Professors sue for right to use Tiktok on university devices, citing academic freedom concerns

A lawsuit has been filed against the State of Texas over its banning of TikTok on state-owned or issued devices for employees in state agencies, including public universities.

The group challenging Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order is the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, on behalf of The Coalition for Independent Technology Research, an organization that advocates on behalf of researchers who study “the impact of technology on society.”

The lawsuit alleges Texas’s ban “compromised” the ability for college professors to teach and conduct research since they can no longer access the social media platform and calls on the state to amend the executive order to grant an exception to university faculty.

[RELATED: Three Texas state universities ban TikTok]

Abbott seeks to protect “sensitive information and critical infrastructure” from falling into the hands of the Chinese government.

Texas is part of a group of over 20 states that have banned TikTok in some fashion on the basis that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, poses a national security risk.

In a press release, adjunct professor Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, stated that it is not a “sensible or constitutional response” to concerns about the app’s extensive data collection and disinformation.

The Knight First Amendment Institute called the ban an “assault” on academic freedom. The complaint cites the case of University of North Texas Professor Jacqueline Vickery. Vickery was forced to “suspend research projects and change her research agenda, alter her teaching methods, and eliminate course materials.” 

[RELATED: University bans TikTok, citing concerns of Chinese Communist Party]

Dave Karpf, PhD, an Associate Professor at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, told Campus Reform on behalf of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, that Governor Abbott’s lawyers “will have the opportunity to explain what national security risks are being created by Professors accessing TikTok in the classroom” and while conducting “publicly-beneficial” research.

When asked about the likely outcome of the lawsuit, Karpf stated it seems “obvious” that Governor Abbott’s law is “overbroad and ought to be struck down.”

The question of whether banning TikTok violates the First Amendment is also playing out in Montana in the form of two lawsuits funded by the company where a state-wide ban is expected to go into effect on Jan. 1.

Campus Reform contacted all relevant parties for comment. This article will update accordingly.