Following US President Trump's threat to ban Tencent's social media app WeChat, there has been a surge in downloads of the app in the United States.
According to SensorTower, the average number of daily downloads of WeChat in the US over a six-day period is up 41 percent compared to the average number of daily downloads in the week following Trump's announcement that he wants to ban it.
This could be because users in the US have been rushing to install the app ahead of its possible removal from some app stores, allowing them to continue using it even if it disappears from the app store.
WeChat users are also turning to QQ, another of Tencent's social chat apps, as Trump issued an executive order that didn't specifically say it covered the product.
Downloads of Tencent's QQ app have tripled in the US in the past week, according to SensorTower data.
WeChat users especially Chinese students in the US are worried that if banning the app could cut off their ties with their families and friends in China.
It's unclear how the US government will elaborate on the WeChat ban in mid-September.
Under Trump's announced executive order banning WeChat, Apple and Google may remove the app from their app stores when the order goes into effect.
A recent survey showed that 95 percent of 1.2 million iPhone users said that if WeChat is banned then they will switch to an Android phone instead of giving up WeChat.
95% of Chinese users would rather give up their iPhone than WeChat, survey shows
Some users said they planned to use a virtual private network (VPN) to access WeChat in the United States if the US government cut off network access to WeChat.
In addition, more than a dozen major US multinationals, including Apple and Disney, held a conference call with White House officials on Tuesday, expressing concern about the impact and scope of the ban issued by Trump on WeChat, which could weaken their competitiveness in the marketplace.
