Texas Governor Greg Abbott has taken a significant step by issuing an order to ban the controversial artificial intelligence app DeepSeek and the popular TikTok alternative RedNote from government-issued devices. This makes Texas the first state to block these Chinese apps. The order also included another social media app, Lemon8, which is owned by ByteDance, the same parent company behind TikTok. Many people had turned to Lemon8 as a backup before TikTok’s temporary shutdown in the United States.
Abbott made a statement emphasizing that Texas would not allow the Chinese Communist Party to access the state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps. He stressed that the state would continue to protect itself from foreign threats. DeepSeek, an AI chatbot, has been making waves in the tech world. It quickly became popular after outperforming OpenAI, the U.S.-based AI platform, at a much lower cost. However, the app raised concerns about security, similar to those that led to TikTok’s ban. DeepSeek has been downloaded more than 2 million times since it launched on January 15, and there are fears that it collects and stores U.S. user data in China. Chinese law requires companies to share data with the government if requested, which could potentially put American user information in the hands of a government that is not friendly to the U.S.
The security risks surrounding DeepSeek have led some organizations, including the U.S. Navy, to block the app. Additionally, RedNote, a social media app similar to TikTok, became popular after TikTok faced the threat of being banned in the U.S. early in January. The app is widely used in China, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
TikTok itself was already banned on government devices after an act signed by former President Joe Biden in December 2022. The app’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain. It was briefly restricted on January 18, causing confusion among users who thought they had more time before the shutdown. It was back online in just over 12 hours, with many speculating that Microsoft might be the company that will eventually purchase TikTok.
