articleAUSTIN, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday announced that Chinese-owned social media and artificial intelligence applications would not be allowed on government-issued devices.
What we know:
The ban on applications is an extension of Abbott’s 2022 ban on TikTok.
The ban will now include the apps Lemon8 and RedNote and artificial intelligence model DeepSeek.
Lemon8 and RedNote
Lemon8 is another social media app owned by TikTok owner, ByteDance Limited.
The app allows users to share photos and slideshows in a fashion similar to Instagram and Pinterest.
The app describes itself as a “lifestyle community powered by TikTok” with a tag line of “fresh discoveries daily.”
RedNote saw its American users increase after the federal government allowed a short-lived ban on TikTok to take effect.
The app’s Chinese name is Xiaohongshu, which translates to “Little Red Book.” A phrase that traditionally refers to a collection of quotations from Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.
As of Friday, RedNote was ranked in the top 20 social media apps on Apple’s iPhone store.
RedNote is owned by Xingyin Information Technology.
Lemon8 and TikTok have not returned to the app store since the ban.
The ban also prohibits government employees from downloading and using stock trading apps: WeBull, Tiger Brokers and MooMoo.
DeepSeek
Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot DeepSeek sent Wall Street into a tumble Monday when it hit the market.
DeepSeek released a large language model that can compete with U.S. artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI but at potentially a much lower cost.
The app rocketed to the top of Apple’s iPhone store, where it currently sits above competitors ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
Part of what’s worrying some U.S. tech industry observers is the idea that the Chinese startup has caught up with the American companies at the forefront of generative AI at a fraction of the cost, the Associated Press reported Monday.
That, if true, calls into question the huge amounts of money U.S. tech companies say they plan to spend on the data centers and computer chips needed to power further AI advancements.
What they’re saying:
“Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps,” Abbott said. “To achieve that mission, I ordered Texas state agencies to ban Chinese government-based AI and social media apps from all state-issued devices. State agencies and employees responsible for handling critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and personal information must be protected from malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.”
The backstory:
Abbott in 2022 ordered all state agencies to ban the use of TikTok on government-issued devices, citing privacy concerns for sensitive data.
Later, Senate Bill 1893 was signed into law that made the change permanent.
Texas Government Code 620.002 says apps can be banned from government devices if they pose a security risk, such as an app provider being required to provide to a foreign government “confidential or private personal information collected by the provider through the application.”
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Office of the Governor and the Associated Press.
