The Trump Administration is being sued yet again, this time from WeChat, over his attempt to ban the service in the US. That’s according to recent reports detailing the lawsuit, brought by a group of five US lawyers.
The suit alleges that, although WeChat only has around 19 million downloads in the US, it serves as primary communication for many of those users. It also serves as a primary means to “organize social groups, run businesses, and engage in political activities.”
As a result, the group claims, the order to ban the apps banned by Mr. Trump — and WeChat, in particular — is unconstitutional. Moreover, the lawyers ambiguously note that the primary group impacted by any such ban is a minority group.
Equally important, the ban itself is vague but carries potential criminal sanctions. The ban effectively threatens legal and criminal ramifications against US citizens. And it does so without clearly defining what actions will lead to those outcomes. That vagueness, the group argues, serves as yet another constitutional violation.
The group has sued to overturn the Trump administration ban
The ultimate goal of the lawsuit is, of course, to see the ban overturned. As hinted above, the ban itself, instituted in early August, impacts a number of companies. Among those are TikTok and WeChat. Under the presidentially-imposed executive order, “transactions” with the companies are against the law. Specifically, that’s “transactions” between the two companies and any US company or citizen.
But the key term here, transactions, has not been defined. So the group hopes to overturn the ban in its entirety.
This isn’t the only lawsuit being leveled over the order
Now, the lawyers representing WeChat end-users will file their suit today, reports indicate. But this isn’t the only suit the Trump Administration is facing over the executive order either. TikTok is expected to file its own suit. And, compounding atop that, TikTok workers are planning a suit of their own.
That latter case, like this latest lawsuit, appears to have fairly solid founding as well. Among the lawyers expecting to represent TikTok workers is Mike Godwin of Godwin’s Law fame. So it appears as though the Trump Administration will have an uphill battle or will need to provide real evidence if it hopes to enforce the order.