Cheap clothes and flash deals from apps like Shein and Temu feel like part of everyday life in Texas. Now they sit on a state cybersecurity blacklist that also targets Chinese artificial intelligence firms, cloud tools and hardware.
On January 26, 2026, Governor Greg Abbott expanded the official list of “prohibited technologies” for government workers. Dozens of China-linked products are now barred from all state-owned devices and networks, following a threat assessment by the newly created Texas Cyber Command.
What Texas actually banned
The update pulls in consumer names that many Texans recognize from their home screens and living rooms. Alongside Shein and Temu, the list includes online giant Alibaba, search provider Baidu and hardware brands like TP-Link, Xiaomi, Hisense and TCL.
Less familiar names round out the list, from surveillance and facial recognition firms such as SenseTime and Megvii to robotics, battery and LiDAR makers and several Chinese generative AI startups. All are now off limits on state devices and networks after the cyber command labeled them potential risks for foreign data harvesting.
This move builds on earlier steps. TikTok and other Chinese social apps were already blocked on government hardware under a model security plan that began in 2022 and was expanded in 2025 to cover additional AI linked tools.
Why shopping and streaming apps worry state officials
The heart of the concern is data. In a statement announcing the new ban, Abbott warned that “hostile adversaries harvest user data through AI and other applications and hardware to exploit, manipulate, and violate users” and that the state needs to limit that risk on its own networks.
Texas Cyber Command, based in San Antonio and described by state leaders as the largest state-level cybersecurity agency in the country, now leads the work of scanning new products and recommending future bans.
Its chief, retired Vice Admiral TJ White, said the mission is to protect Texans from foreign cyber threats and prevent sensitive information from being siphoned away.
For everyday users, that may sound a bit abstract. In practical terms, it reflects anxiety over how much personal information flows through routine actions like hunting for a coupon code, connecting a budget smart TV or letting a phone join public Wi Fi at the office.
What actually changes for regular Texans
For now, the policy is narrow. It applies to state agencies and employees, not private consumers. If you work for a public university or a state office, you will not be allowed to install these apps on government phones or laptops or use them on official networks.
At home, your Temu orders and Shein hauls are not directly affected by this specific order. You can still scroll for flash deals on your own phone while watching a show after work. The signal from Austin is different.
When a state that large treats bargain shopping apps and cheap hardware as potential security threats, it nudges a broader conversation about what feels like a harmless download.
That conversation is not happening in a vacuum. Temu quickly became one of the most downloaded shopping apps in the United States, and Shein has grown into a major digital-only fashion retailer, largely by offering ultra-low prices on goods shipped from China.
The same low-cost products that help stretch a tight paycheck often arrive wrapped in opaque data practices.
Smart TVs hint at the next front in this fight
The blacklist also lands as the state sues several big television makers over how they track viewers. Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL, accusing them of using automated content recognition software in their smart TVs to record what people watch in real time and send that data back for targeted advertising without proper consent.
Court filings describe technology that can capture frequent screenshots of the screen in a living room, building a detailed profile of viewing habits and even other devices plugged into the television. Some judges in Texas have already issued temporary restraining orders against at least one manufacturer, although an order affecting Samsung was later set aside.
Put together, the lawsuits and the banned list show a state trying to shrink the attack surface on everything from office Wi-Fi to the smart TV that ends up in a state worker’s den.
What to watch next
The updated policy lets agencies request narrow exceptions, for example when investigators need to study a banned product, but those carve outs must be approved at the top and reported to the state’s information resources department.
For the rest of us, the message is less about deleting specific apps tonight and more about paying attention to where devices are built, how “free” services get paid and what our gadgets quietly send back over the network. Checking privacy settings on that new TV or reconsidering which shopping apps really need access to your contacts is a small step, but it moves in the same direction as this policy shift.
The official press release was published by the Office of the Texas Governor.
