Google LLC is seeking an exemption from the Trump administration’s ban on doing business with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., the Financial Times reported today.

Sources told the publication that “senior executives” from the search giant have approached the Commerce Department about the matter in recent weeks.

According to the people, the subject of the executives’ requests was Android. The Huawei ban means Google won’t be allowed to share future operating system updates with the Chinese firm, a situation that the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary reportedly believes could create security risks.

Huawei is the world’s second-largest mobile device maker by unit shipments. All its handsets run on Android, which means that losing access to future versions of the platform would force the company to start producing operating system updates on this own. Google reportedly argued to the Commerce Department that a Huawei-maintained version of Android would contain more bugs than the original and consequently be more vulnerable to hacking.

Google is said to be seeking either a complete waiver from the ban or an extension to the 90-day reprieve that was recently issued by the Commerce Department. But the security issues reportedly cited by the search giant may not be enough to sway officials. Huawei has a practically non-existent presence in the U.S. handset market, which means that American mobile users wouldn’t be noticeably affected if the company loses access to Android updates.

U.S. intelligence officials have accused Huawei of posing a national security risk and of having overly close ties to the Chinese government. The company is banned from selling telecommunications equipment to carriers in the U.S., while other countries such as Australia and Canada are reportedly mulling to exclude Huawei as well.

Also today, against the backdrop of the report about Google’s Commerce Department appeal, word emerged that Facebook Inc. has stopping making its apps available on new Huawei devices. Consumers who have already installed Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on their handsets will continue to have access.

Photo: Duncan Riley/SiliconANGLE