Judge upholds Texas' TikTok ban on state devices after challenge from First Amendment group

A federal judge issued an order upholding a Texas law that bans TikTok from being used on state-owned devices and networks after a First Amendment group challenged it. 

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on Monday rejected a case from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, after the group argued that the Texas law violated the First Amendment as it prohibited the use of TikTok on the wifi networks of public universities, The Hill reported. 

"While the Court recognizes the importance both of protecting academic freedom and supporting public employees’ right to free speech, the Court finds that these important ideals do not dictate the appropriate framework for this case," Pitman said in his order. 

Pitman also wrote that the ban is "not a restraint on public employee speech," because university faculty and public employees are able to use TikTok on their personal devices, so long as the devices are not used on state networks. 

The institute had argued that it is important for researchers to be able to study TikTok, especially ahead of the 2024 election, and that Texas' restrictions prevent them from doing this.

The judge said the ban is "reasonable restriction on access to TikTok in light of Texas’s concerns" focusing on privacy and controversy surrounding TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company ByteDance.

"This is a disappointing decision," Knight Institute Executive Director Jameel Jaffer said Tuesday. "Restricting research and teaching about one of the world’s major communications platforms is not a sensible or constitutionally permissible way of addressing legitimate concerns about TikTok’s data-collection practices."

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