WASHINGTON, Sept 21 — The US Commerce Department said today it will challenge an order issued Sunday by a US judge that blocked the department’s order requiring Apple and Google to remove WeChat from their US app stores.

US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the department’s order, which would also have barred other US transactions with Tencent Holding’s WeChat, potentially making the app unusable in the US

“Prohibiting the identified transactions is necessary to protect the national security of the United States, and the department expects to soon seek relief from this order,” the Commerce Department said. — Reuters