August 18, 2020–As the United States and China begin to battle over the use digital technologies by consumers, Tencent Holdings, a Chinese-based multinational technology company that owns the social media app WeChat, hired a law firm to lobby the U.S. government.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison a global law firm headquartered in New York, filed a lobbying disclosure filed on August 7 with the Senate. According to the disclosure, the firm intends to represent Tencent, its largest shareholder Naspers Limited, and WeChat in the areas of consumer issues/safety/protection, media and trade.
The firm’s chief lobbyist on behalf of Tencent is Roberto Gonzalez, an attorney specializing in high-stake litigation, economic sanctions and export controls. Gonzalez has held senior positions in the U.S. Treasury and White House.
Trump’s Executive Actions
The move follows a pair of executive decisions by President Donald Trump against WeChat and TikTok. Trump signed an executive order on August 6 that could potentially ban the use of WeChat in the United States in 45 days.
Citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act, the order says, “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
Related executive orders include one against TikTok on August 6, an executive order against ByteDance’s acquisition of Shanghai-based app Musical.?ly, and a 2019 order on securing the information and communications technology supply chain.
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