A federal judge ruled Monday that Texas can ban the use of TikTok on devices owned by the state. A free speech group sued the state this summer.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University argued the ban prevented faculty at state colleges and universities from using TikTok in their research.
"Texas’ TikTok ban is both overbroad and ineffective, and it imposes a heavy burden on the First Amendment rights of faculty who study TikTok and use TikTok in their teaching, as we make clear. Suppressing research and teaching about one of the world’s major communications platforms is not a sensible or constitutionally permissible way of addressing the data-collection and disinformation concerns that Texas has identified," Jameel Jaffer, the Knight Institute’s executive director, wrote in a statement.
Jaffer said the rule would prevent faculty from researching the privacy concerns that led to the ban. TikTok is owned by a company in China.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman ruled in Texas' favor, saying the state had adopted a "reasonable restriction" based on data protection concerns. Pitman said the ban only applies to state-owned devices, so faculty are still free to use TikTok on personal computers, phones, and tablets provided they are not connected to state networks.
TikTok says 150 million Americans have used the app and says it does not use data "improperly." At least 30 states and federal government agencies ban the use of TikTok on government-owned devices.
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