Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Sep 21, 2025

TikTok, WeChat Security Threat Has Yet to Be Proven, Judges Say

TikTok, WeChat Security Threat Has Yet to Be Proven, Judges Say

Two federal judges have ruled this month that the Trump administration failed to prove Chinese-owned apps used by millions of Americans pose enough of a national security threat to justify a U.S. ban.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington said in a court filing Monday that he blocked a ban on new downloads of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok because the government has likely overstepped its authority under the emergency-powers law it invoked to justify the prohibition. On Sept. 19, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco blocked a similar ban on Tencent Holding Ltd.’s WeChat.

The court decisions show that, while judges may agree with the notion that China poses a threat, the administration hasn’t yet shown that the apps themselves are a problem. It’s at least a temporary setback for President Donald Trump, who has argued that the Chinese owners of TikTok and WeChat are collecting personal data on Americans.

Nichols acknowledged in his ruling that the U.S. provided “ample evidence” that China is a risk to national security, but said the government’s evidence of the threat posed by TikTok “remains less substantial.”

Beeler reached a similar conclusion. “While the government has established that China’s activities raise significant national security concerns -- it has put in scant little evidence that its effective ban of WeChat for all U.S. users addresses those concerns,” she said in her Sept. 19 order.

Both companies sued to delay the bans and then asked judges for more time to resolve the disputes.

U.S. Opposition


In the WeChat case, the U.S. government said in a court filing it will submit classified information to support its request that Beeler lift her injunction blocking the ban. The Trump administration has yet to make a similar filing in the TikTok case, where Nichols on Sunday blocked a ban that was set to go into effect at midnight.

TikTok’s Chinese owner would likely succeed in proving the Trump administration exceeded its legal authority, Nichols said in his ruling.

The emergency powers invoked by Trump don’t allow him to prohibit “information materials and personal communications,” given that TikTok is used mostly to share videos, photographs, art and news, the judge said. And it is “not plausible” that any of that content would fall under the nation’s Espionage Act, he said.

The judge’s reasoning for his Sunday ruling remained sealed until Monday because some of the government’s filings in the case contained confidential business information.

While Nichols granted a preliminary injunction against the ban on new downloads, he declined to halt a separate set of prohibitions scheduled for Nov. 12, which are designed to further curb the app’s use unless the company finds a U.S. buyer for the assets.

The download ban would have removed TikTok from stores run by Apple Inc. and Google’s Android, the most widely used marketplaces for apps. People who didn’t yet have the app wouldn’t have been able to get it, and those who already had it wouldn’t have had access to updates needed to ensure its safe and smooth operation. TikTok has been downloaded by more than 100 million Americans.

‘Irreparable Harm’


In his opinion, Nichols said the ban would have done “irreparable harm” to TikTok, which has been growing at a rate of 424,000 new users a day in the U.S. “Barring TikTok from U.S. app stores would, of course, have the immediate and direct effect of halting the influx of new users, likely driving those users to alternative platforms and eroding TikTok’s competitive position,” Nichols wrote.

The Nichols ruling provided a reprieve for TikTok, but it is not the end of the legal battle. TikTok still faces a Nov. 12 deadline to agree on a deal to sell its U.S. business to an American buyer, or face the next set of prohibitions.

ByteDance is seeking government clearance to sell a stake of its U.S. business to Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. But while Trump has said he’s given the deal his “blessing,” the proposal requires formal approval from a government panel that oversees foreign investment in the U.S.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
×