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Which apps did Texas name?
Governor Greg Abbott’s January 31, 2025 proclamation named DeepSeek, RedNote (also known as Xiaohongshu) and Lemon8. The proclamation identified RedNote and Lemon8 as social media applications posing a security risk; DeepSeek was also named. The indexed official proclamation describes the covered devices as those owned or leased by a governmental entity of Texas or a local government within Texas. Read the proclamation.
That is the scope stated in the proclamation: installation or use on covered government devices. It does not establish a statewide prohibition on private individuals downloading or using the apps on personal devices. Nor does it by itself settle how a particular agency handles a personally owned phone used for work; that may depend on separate, applicable policies.
Why did the governor cite security concerns?
Abbott’s stated rationale was that the apps could enable data harvesting and create a risk to state infrastructure. The Associated Press quoted him saying, “Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps.” That is the governor’s explanation for the action, not an independent technical finding about each app’s conduct. Associated Press report, January 31, 2025.
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AP described Xiaohongshu/RedNote as having roughly 300 million active users at the time of its report, while noting its popularity in China and surrounding countries. That is an approximate, attributed 2025 figure—not a current audience count or necessarily a company-reported number.
How is the proclamation different from Texas’s covered-apps law?
The 2025 proclamation is a named-app action. It sits alongside, but is distinct from, the policy framework Texas established under Senate Bill 1893. The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) says SB 1893 created Government Code Chapter 620, which requires state agencies, the judicial branch and local government entities—including cities, counties and special purpose districts—to prohibit covered applications and adopt entity-specific policies. DIR’s September 2024 explanation says the covered-applications category includes TikTok and applications or services developed by ByteDance.
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| Policy layer | What it names or covers | Who or what it reaches |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott’s January 31, 2025 proclamation | DeepSeek, RedNote/Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 | Installation or use on devices owned or leased by a Texas governmental entity or local government, as described in the indexed proclamation. Official proclamation. |
| SB 1893 / Government Code Chapter 620, as summarized by DIR | Covered applications, including TikTok and apps or services developed by ByteDance | State agencies, the judicial branch and local government entities must adopt policies prohibiting covered applications. DIR says the policy-adoption deadline was November 20, 2024. DIR explanation. |
DIR also says the earlier prohibited-technology policies required under Abbott’s 2022 directive had to remain in place. The two layers should not be treated as interchangeable: one is a proclamation naming additional applications, while the other is a law-based framework for covered-app policies across specified public entities.
Was the Attorney General’s Office action the same order?
No. Attorney General Ken Paxton separately directed restrictions on devices in the Attorney General’s Office on January 28, 2025, according to that office’s February 14 announcement. The office also said it had opened an investigation into DeepSeek’s privacy practices and claims about its AI model, and had sent civil investigative demands to Apple and Google. That was a separate office-level action and investigation, not the governor’s statewide proclamation. Attorney General’s Office announcement.
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Are the three apps still on Texas’s prohibited list?
The Governor’s Office announced an update to the broader prohibited-technologies list on January 26, 2026, following a threat assessment by Texas Cyber Command. The announcement names additions across hardware, AI and software, but does not confirm the current entry-by-entry status of DeepSeek, RedNote or Lemon8. Check the live Texas prohibited-technologies list before relying on a claim that any one of these apps remains listed today.
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