Texas Governor Greg Abbott has banned the use of Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek on government-issued devices, making Texas the first U.S. state to impose such a restriction on the popular chatbot. The emerging AI platform has recently gained widespread attention in the U.S., shaking up the AI industry.

Abbott also prohibited the use of the Chinese-owned social media apps Xiaohongshu—commonly referred to as RedNote—and Lemon8 on all state-issued devices.

"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 in a statement. "Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors."

Italy blocks access to the Chinese AI application DeepSeek to protect users' data

The governor's office declined to provide further comments on the matter.

AI startup DeepSeek has drawn significant market interest by demonstrating its ability to compete with industry leader OpenAI.

In recent weeks, Xiaohongshu has seen a surge in American users, particularly after the short-lived TikTok ban. The app is widely popular in China and neighboring countries like Malaysia and Taiwan, with around 300 million active users. Many Americans had turned to it as a TikTok alternative and a way to protest the ban.

Lemon8, owned by ByteDance—the parent company of TikTok—also gained traction in the lead-up to the initial TikTok ban on Jan. 19.

Texas, along with several other states and the federal government, has already banned TikTok on government devices. The app's future remains uncertain as former President Donald Trump issued an executive order granting ByteDance more time to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.