The Chinese tech giant, WeChat app, saw a surge in its downloads in the U.S. since Friday after the official confirmation of ban was pushed ahead according to the data.
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The U.S. Department of Commerce had issued an order to Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove the app from its store. A U.S. Magistrate judge, Laurel Beeler, on the contrary of the order, blocked the move of a ban on Sunday. The officials of the U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday said it will challenge the order.
The judge had raised the question related to the constitution’s first amendment which guaranteed free speech. The Department on which alleged that it threatens the security of the nation and hence, could be banned without any second thoughts.
WeChat and China strongly denied the claim of intruding into national security. Tencent, one of the owners of the app, had described the step of the U.S. government as “unfortunate”.
Increase in number of downloads
it has been noted that the number of downloads of the WeChat app was about 54,000 times between Friday and Saturday, 28 times the 1,900 downloads seen in the same two-day period a week before the announcement of the ban. These data were released by data analytics firm Sensor Tower. It has been found that WeCom, an office collaboration app, also saw a jump in a number of downloads.
What is WeChat? Why ban?
WeChat is an all-in-one mobile app combining messaging, payment functions, social media and other services. it has been said that WeChat app should be banned because it collects data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing history and search history and shares it with another third party which means intruding into the privacy of the users.
Almost all the companies in the U.S. use WeChat app to connect to their customers and banning the app would hamper the business of the firms is believed by some. Starbucks, Walmart and Nike, for example, could be cut off from customers who use WeChat.
