Trump
U.S. WeChat Users Alliance v. Trump
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA San Francisco Division U.S. WECHAT USERS ALLIANCE, et al., Case No. 20-cv-05910-LB
Plaintiffs,
ORDER DENYING MOTION TO STAY
v. Re: ECF No. 68 DONALD J. TRUMP, et al., Defendants. 16 INTRODUCTION The government moves to stay the court’s preliminary injunction enjoining the government from (allegedly) effectively banning WeChat, a messaging, social-media, and mobile-payment app owned by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Ltd.1 The government’s ban — implemented in the Secretary’s “Identification of Prohibited Transactions to Implement Executive Order 13943” — prohibited internet-services transactions (such as hosting services or distribution-and-maintenance services for downloads or updates) that enable WeChat’s functioning.2 The court preliminarily enjoined the Secretary’s ban because the plaintiffs (U.S.-based users of WeChat) met the standards for a preliminary injunction: they raised “serious…