A federal judge in Texas has upheld the state’s ban on official devices and networks, rejecting a challenge brought by The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The institute had argued that the ban violated the First Amendment and impeded academic freedom. The ban on official devices extends to public universities, preventing professors from teaching and doing research about the social media app.
The Knight Institute filed the lawsuit on behalf of Coalition for Independent Technology Research, a group of academics and researchers who study technology’s impact on society. The lawsuit also cited a member of the group, a professor at University of North Texas, who was unable to assign certain in-class work and had to suspend some research projects because of the ban. However, Judge Robert L. Pitman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled that the ban on official devices is not a restraint on speech.
The ban on TikTok by some states, Congress, and universities across the country is due to concerns that the popular social media platform, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, could put sensitive data in the hands of the Chinese government or be used as a tool to spread misinformation. Despite the concerns, Jameel Jaffer, the Knight Institute’s executive director, expressed disappointment in the court’s decision, stating that restricting research and teaching about TikTok is not a sensible or constitutionally permissible way to address legitimate concerns about the app’s data-collection practices.
Judge Pitman noted the state’s narrow TikTok ban on official devices compared to broader efforts in Montana to ban the app state-wide. A federal judge blocked Montana’s blanket ban just a month before it was set to take effect. A final ruling on the matter will come at a later date. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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