A U.S. district judge on Monday upheld a Texas ban on state government employees, including those at public universities, using the Chinese short-video app TikTok on state government equipment or networks. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit in July this year, arguing that the Texas government's TikTok ban "prevents or seriously hinders teachers from engaging in TikTok-related research."
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman dismissed the lawsuit, saying Texas' restrictions were based on data protection considerations and saying "the restrictions on access to TikTok are reasonable in light of Texas' considerations."
"Public university faculty and all public officials are free to use TikTok on personal devices (as long as those devices are not used to access state networks)," he wrote.
Pittman contrasted the ban with one in Montana, which tried to ban all TikTok in the state starting Jan. 1 but was blocked by another U.S. judge last month.
TikTok sued the state of Montana in May this year, seeking to block the U.S. state government’s ban on multiple grounds, arguing that the ban violated the company’s and users’ right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
More than 30 states in the United States and federal agencies including the White House, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and State Department have banned the use of TikTok on government equipment.
The federal device TikTok ban established by the U.S. Congress in December 2022 does not apply to national security, law enforcement or security research activities.
TikTok is owned by China-based ByteDance, the world's most valuable startup. Many countries have expressed concerns about its close ties to the Chinese government and its hold on global user data.
TikTok has more than 150 million users in the United States, but it denies improperly using U.S. data.