NY-based Group Sues Texas Over Abbott’s TikTok Ban
From The Texas Minute
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is facing a lawsuit over his prohibition of the Chinese social media app TikTok on government-issued devices. Katy Marshall has the details.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research against Abbott and other state officials last week.
TikTok is owned by the Chinese media company ByteDance, which employs Chinese Communist Party members and has a subsidiary partially owned by the country’s communist party. This has led many to raise concerns that the app poses a security risk for the U.S.
Last year, Abbott ordered all state agencies to ban TikTok from government-issued devices and networks.
The Knight lawsuit alleges Texas is violating citizens’ First Amendment rights by “imposing a broad restraint on the research and teaching of public university faculty” conducting studies into TikTok’s effects on users.
The use of TikTok on government devices is currently banned by the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. Other states including North Dakota, Maryland, and South Dakota also prohibit the use of TikTok on government-issued devices.
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