Texas has moved to block some of the world’s most downloaded Chinese shopping apps from its own networks, barring platforms like Shein and Temu from state-issued phones and computers. The decision folds fast-fashion hauls and discount gadget orders into a broader security fight over how much access Chinese-linked technology should have to American government systems. It is a targeted move, limited to public-sector devices, but it signals how deeply geopolitical mistrust is now shaping the everyday tools of work.
The new restrictions build on earlier efforts that started with social media and have expanded into artificial intelligence, cloud services, and even physical hardware. What began as a narrow TikTok rule has evolved into a sweeping prohibited list that now reaches into the shopping carts of state employees, reshaping how Texas wants its workforce to interact with the digital economy.
The new ban and what it covers
The latest move from Texas adds Shein, Temu and other Chinese-linked platforms to a growing roster of technologies that state employees are not allowed to use on government-issued devices. Officials describe the change as an expansion of a preexisting list of “covered applications and prohibited technologies” that already restricted tools such as TikTok and other software tied to foreign governments. That list, maintained by the state’s information security arm, traces back to an order in which Governor Greg Abbott directed agencies to keep certain applications off state networks.
According to the state’s IT division, the Texas Department of Information Resources, the prohibited technologies list is meant to shield government systems from software and hardware that could expose sensitive data. That mission now explicitly includes the fast-growing e-commerce apps that have become fixtures of online shopping. Reporting on the change notes that the department framed the restrictions as a way to keep potentially risky code off state-issued devices, citing cybersecurity fears about how these apps collect and transmit user information.
Abbott’s security rationale and the Texas Cyber Command
Governor Greg Abbott has framed the crackdown as a defensive measure against foreign surveillance and data harvesting, arguing that Chinese-linked platforms pose a particular risk when they sit on government phones and laptops. In a recent update, Governor Greg Abbott said he was expanding the prohibited technologies list to protect the privacy of Texans from the People’s Republic of China and to safeguard state systems. That language reflects a broader view inside his administration that consumer apps can double as vectors for foreign intelligence gathering when they sit on official devices.
The state has also built new institutional muscle around this agenda. The Governor and the Legislature gave a clear mission for the Texas Cyber Command, instructing it to protect Texans from hostile foreign nations and any subsidiary or affiliate that might be used to penetrate state systems. In that context, the Shein and Temu restrictions look less like a one-off headline and more like another step in a long-term strategy to wall off state infrastructure from technologies that officials see as too closely intertwined with China.
From TikTok to Temu, a widening blacklist
Texas did not start with shopping apps. Earlier efforts focused on social media, when Governor Greg Abbott ordered agencies to remove TikTok and similar platforms from state networks. The state’s own Overview of covered applications notes that, on December 7, 2022, Governor Greg Abbott required all state agencies to ban the video sharing application TikTok and other specified tools from government devices. That initial move created the template for a rolling blacklist that could be updated as new apps rose in popularity and concern.
Over time, that list has grown to include a wide range of Chinese-linked technologies, from social platforms to e-commerce and artificial intelligence. State briefings describe how Texas has now banned dozens of Chinese tools, including Shein, Temu and Alibaba, from all state-issued devices, citing ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The pattern is clear: once an app or service is seen as both widely used and closely connected to China, it becomes a candidate for inclusion on the prohibited list.
Chinese e-commerce and AI in the crosshairs
The latest update does more than block two shopping apps. It folds a broader ecosystem of Chinese e-commerce and artificial intelligence into the state’s security calculus. Officials have said that Greg Abbott expanded Texas’ prohibited technologies list to include Temu, Shein and other Chinese-based software and hardware companies, explicitly targeting apps many people use daily. That expansion reaches beyond mobile storefronts to cover cloud services, AI tools and other digital infrastructure that might sit behind the scenes of consumer-facing platforms.
Security concerns are not limited to software. State officials have also highlighted restrictions on physical hardware and artificial intelligence systems that originate in China. Coverage of the policy shift notes that Texas has expanded its list to include China-linked hardware, artificial intelligence and companies such as NucTech, reflecting a belief that vulnerabilities can be embedded in everything from scanners at state facilities to machine learning systems used for analytics. In that light, Shein and Temu are part of a much larger map of technologies that Texas wants to keep at arm’s length from its government networks.
How the ban works for state employees
For the roughly 150,000 people who work for Texas state agencies, the new rules are felt most directly as a change in what they can install or access on their work devices. The Texas Department of Information Resources has explained that the prohibited technologies list represents software and hardware that cannot be used on state-issued devices, including smartphones, laptops and desktop computers. That means no Shein hauls ordered from an office phone and no Temu browsing on a state laptop during a lunch break.
Enforcement is likely to rely on a mix of technical controls and agency policy. Network administrators can block traffic to known domains and app stores, while human resources departments can fold the list into acceptable-use policies. The state’s own description of covered applications makes clear that agency heads are responsible for ensuring compliance, which effectively turns every department into a frontline enforcer of the technology blacklist.
More from Morning Overview