AUSTIN, Texas (KXXV) — Gov. Greg Abbott issued a ban on Friday afternoon, prohibiting the use of AI and social media apps "affiliated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP)" on government-issued devices.
"Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps," Gov. Abbott said.
"To achieve that mission, I ordered Texas state agencies to ban Chinese government-based AI and social media apps from all state-issued devices — state agencies and employees responsible for handling critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and personal information must be protected from malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.”
Gov. Abbott also ordered that Texas DPS and Texas' Department of Information Resources to add the following technologies to the state’s prohibited technologies list, "which prohibits state employees and contractors from downloading and using these apps on state-owned or personal devices used for work":
• RedNote
• DeepSeek
• Webull
• Tiger Brokers
• Moomoo
• Lemon8
In 2022, Gov. Abbott ordered all Texas state agencies to ban the use of TikTok on any government-issued devices to prevent the access of critical U.S. information and infrastructure.
He also announced a statewide model security plan in 2023 for Texas state agencies to address vulnerabilities presented by the use of TikTok and other software on personal and state-issued devices.
"Additionally, the Texas Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 1893 prohibiting the use of TikTok and other covered social media apps on government-issued devices."
