US distances itself from Trump attempts to ban WeChat

WeChat is owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

A day after it put a hold on a proposed ban on TikTok, the Biden administration in the US is distancing itself from attempts by former president Donald Trump to ban the China-owned messaging app WeChat.

The Commerce Department is reviewing recent actions, such as the rules undermining TikTok and WeChat, to ensure that efforts by the Trump administration to ban them based on claimed national-security threats were justified, according to a government filing in a suit by WeChat users challenging the ban.