Amid growing concerns over Chinese artificial intelligence and social media applications, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered a ban on several Chinese-owned services on all Texas government devices.
Abbott’s directive follows the rise of DeepSeek, a free artificial intelligence tool based in China that has alarmed national security experts and financial analysts due to heavy U.S. tech sector investments in AI. Critics warn these applications pose a significant risk of data harvesting and foreign influence.
“Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps,” 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.”
Under Abbott’s order, the following applications have been added to the state’s prohibited technologies list, barring state employees and contractors from using them on government-issued devices and personal devices used for work:
- RedNote
- DeepSeek
- Webull
- Tiger Brokers
- Moomoo
- Lemon8
This isn’t the first time Abbott has moved to restrict Chinese tech influence in Texas. In 2022, he signed an executive order banning TikTok from all state devices and networks. The Texas Legislature later codified that ban into law, citing security threats posed by the popular app’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
