The US Department of Commerce has previously issued an order requiring Apple and Google to cancel the download and update service of WeChat in the app store owned by Alphabet on the grounds of so-called national security.
But last Sunday, the ban was blocked by California federal judge laurel Biller. Biller believes that the US government's ban will affect users' right to enjoy the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and the WeChat ban has obliterated their communication platform. Biller also said that the specific evidence that the US government believes that WeChat constitutes a "national security threat" is also "very prominent".
In response, the US Department of Commerce said on Monday that "in order to protect the national security of the United States, it is necessary to ban related transactions, and the Ministry of Commerce will soon seek to lift the order." According to the data of data analysis company SensorTower, from last Friday to last Saturday, the number of downloads of WeChat was about 54,000, which was 28 times that of 1.900 in the previous two days and 300 times that of 1.903 in the same period a week ago. According to the data analysis company, the download volume of the enterprise version of WeChat (WeCom) has also increased significantly in the same period.
In order to curb the development of science and technology in China, in recent months, the United States has introduced a series of measures to ban China's technology companies and applications on the grounds of so-called national security. Tencent said that if Apple and Google delete WeChat from their app stores, the update of the app by existing American users may be negatively affected.
Earlier, the media reported that Tencent had renamed the enterprise WeChat Overseas Edition (WeChatWork) as WeCom. According to the records of the US Patent and Trademark Office, Tencent registered the WeCom trademark on August 19, 2009.
Tencent told the media on September 20 that WeCom is an overseas version of enterprise WeChat, an internal and external communication management tool based on organizations and enterprises, and a completely different product from WeChat.
WeCom, as an overseas version of WeChat, has high hopes. On the one hand, we should pay attention to whether the registration can be successful, on the other hand, we should pay attention to whether the US government will agree with this practice. However, Tencent's response this time is already the most reasonable way under difficult conditions, and the latest news needs to continue to pay attention.