Federal judge upholds Texas' TikTok ban on state-owned devices

A federal judge in Texas has upheld the state’s TikTok ban on official devices and networks. The decision came months after The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University challenged the ban, arguing it violated the First Amendment. They had claimed the TikTok restrictions – which extends to public universities – were impeding academic freedom. In his decision on Monday, Judge Robert L. Pitman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, wrote the TikTok ban on official devices is not a restraint on speech but a “reasonable restriction" in light of Texas’s concerns about the app. The executive director for the Knight Institute says the decision was disappointing.