AUSTIN, Texas (KWTX) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Friday that he would ban the use of Chinese government-affiliated AI and social media apps on all Texas-issued devices.
Prohibitions that are said to protect national infrastructure, intellectual property, and confidential information from foreign threats are immediate and effective.
“Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate the state’s critical infrastructure through data halibate AI and social media apps,” Abbott said.
BAN targets apps such as Renote, Webull, Tiger Brokers, Lemon8, and Moomoo. This is prohibited by state employees from using them on both state and individual devices that are currently used for work.
This action follows previous measures introduced by Abbott two months ago, focusing on state system hardening, targeting CCP impact operations and addressing vulnerabilities.
This latest move also builds on previous steps, such as the ban on Tiktok in 2022 and the 2023 legislative action banning certain apps on government devices.
The Texas governor will further lay out the 2025 agenda during the state’s biennial state speech on Sunday.
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