WECHAT BANNED IN US SOFTWARE

“We are … disappointed to have been singled out when using the same legal mechanism as thousands of other companies looking to provide services in Europe,” wrote Nick Clegg, the Meta president of global affairs, and Jennifer Newstead, the Meta chief legal officer, in a blog post on Monday.Ĭlegg and Newstead added: “This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US.” They said the internet risked being carved up into national and regional silos as a result.Ī spokesperson for the European Commission – the EU’s executive arm – said it hoped a new framework for transatlantic data transfers would be “fully functional by the summer” which would provide the “stability and legal certainty” sought by US tech companies. Meta, whose EU base is in Ireland, said it had been “singled out” by the DPC despite thousands of other businesses using the same data transfer processes. The regulator said data transferred by Facebook under a legal instrument called standard contractual clauses (SCCs) “did not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects that were identified by the in its judgment”. The CJEU ruled that data leaving the EU must have the same level of protection as it would have under GDPR when it reaches its destination outside the EU. The DPC said Meta infringed GDPR by continuing to transfer EU user data to the US without proper safeguards in place, despite a ruling by the European court of justice in 2020 requiring robust protection of that information. Meta said it would appeal against the decision and seek a stay on the data transfer order. The ruling does not affect data transfers at Meta’s other main platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Meta has also been given six months to stop “the unlawful processing, including storage, in the US” of personal EU data already transferred across the Atlantic, meaning that user data will need to be removed from Facebook servers. President-elect Joe Biden could revoke it after he assumes office, but his camp has yet to announce his decision.The DPC punishment relates to a legal challenge brought by an Austrian privacy campaigner, Max Schrems, over concerns resulting from the Edward Snowden revelations that European users’ data is not sufficiently protected from US intelligence agencies when it is transferred across the Atlantic. The order will take effect after 45 days, long after Trump leaves office. That said, the order could still have a negative impact on a lot of Chinese-Americans who often travel between the two countries, as well as businesses that use the apps to cater to Chinese customers. Most of the apps’ users are in China, especially the payment applications, which require Chinese bank accounts. A senior administration official told Reuters, however, that the White House believes these particular restrictions would stick - applications like Alipay wouldn’t be able to argue a case based on the First Amendment, they said.Īs The NY Times noted, the restrictions’ reach would likely be pretty limited compared to the impact of a TikTok or a WeChat ban.

If you’ll recall, both attempts were blocked by the court on freedom of speech grounds. It follows the administration’s previous attempts at banning TikTok and WeChat from app stores in the United States. The order also affects Tencent’s QQ Wallet, Tencent’s QQ messenger, CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate (published by Alibaba Group subsidiary UCWeb) and Beijing Kingsoft Office Software’s WPS Office.

WECHAT BANNED IN US SOFTWARE

“At this time,” he wrote in the order, “action must be taken to address the threat posed by these Chinese connected software applications.” The president raised concerns that the apps can be used to track the locations of federal employees and contractors and to build dossiers of personal information on them. and private information” from millions of users in the United States. The New York Times has posted a portion of the order, which reportedly says that the US government has come to the conclusion that a number of Chinese apps automatically capture “sensitive personally identifiable. A senior administration official explained at a briefing that the order aims to prevent the Chinese government from gathering American users’ data and using it as a “mass tool for global oppression.” President Trump has signed an executive order banning Ant Group’s Alipay, WeChat Pay and 6 other Chinese apps in the US, according to Reuters.

Wechat banned in us