SAN FRANCISCO: A US judge has once again halted President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban WeChat, a Chinese messaging social-media and mobile-payment app.

A judge in California rejected a request from the US Department of Justice to reverse a previous decision allowing WeChat, owned by the Chinese company Tencent app, to remain active in app stores, The Verge reported on Friday.

“The record does not support the conclusion that the government has ‘narrowly tailored’ the prohibited transactions to protect its national security interests,” the judge said.

The evidence “supports the conclusion that the restrictions ‘burden substantially more speech than is necessary to further the government’s legitimate interests.’”

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice earlier this month appealed against a recent federal court ruling that barred the Trump administration’s attempt to block TikTok downloads, IANS reported.