A renewed push for a WeChat ban is gaining traction after Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) warned that the CCP-controlled messaging app has become a critical hub for organized crime operating inside the United States. In a January 16 letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, Lankford urged the White House to remove WeChat from American cellphones, citing its role in serious criminal activity.
According to Lankford, WeChat is being used to “facilitate drug trafficking, human trafficking, [and] money laundering” by Chinese criminal rings. He described the platform, owned by China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., as a primary tool for “coordination among Chinese criminal networks” that exploit encrypted communications U.S. authorities cannot access. Law enforcement agencies, he wrote, do “not have access to WeChat’s server or any of the encrypted communications and transactions that occur on this app,” making it “an investigative black box.”
The WeChat ban discussion resurfaces nearly six years after President Donald Trump attempted to block the app during his first term. That effort failed in court, and the Biden administration later rescinded the order. Since then, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, giving the president new authority to act against foreign-controlled platforms. Lankford noted that Trump now has “explicit authority to identify and act against companies whose ownership or control by foreign adversaries poses an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.”
The senator pointed to cases in Oklahoma, including a 2022 quadruple homicide at an illegal marijuana farm, where investigators believed Chinese crime networks were involved. State authorities assessed that “many of these groups have direct financial backing from China,” with WeChat playing a central role.
Given those findings, Lankford argued that formally designating WeChat as a covered company “would advance U.S. national security interests, protect American citizens from foreign criminals operating inside our borders, and help our law enforcement fight against Chinese criminal networks.”
