Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an order banning the contested artificial intelligence app DeepSeek and the popular TikTok alternative RedNote from government-issued devices, becoming the first state to block the Chinese apps.
The governor’s issue also prohibited Lemon8, another social media app owned by TikTok’s Chinese parent company Bytedance, which many turned to on the eve of TikTok’s temporary shutdown in the United States.
“Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors,” Abbott said in a statement.
