One of the largest universities in the U.S. is banning access to one of the world's largest retailers.
The University of Texas at Austin has cut access to Shien, blocking it from the school's computers as well as its campus Wi-Fi network. The move is meant to comply with a directive from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott $ABT that prohibits several Chinese-affiliated companies from state devices.
The school also has blocked access to Alibaba and Temu.
"All full- and part-time faculty, staff, contractors, fellows, post-docs, interns, and anyone performing business, including research, for the University may not use TikTok, [Shien] or other prohibited technology on personal devices that are also used for university business," the school wrote on its website. "This includes student employees who perform any University business on a personal device."
Shien is currently under investigation by the Texas Attorney General's office for "potential violations of Texas law related to unethical labor practices and the sale of unsafe consumer products." Shien is a leader in the fast-fashion market, and the U.S. is its biggest sales market. Even with President Donald Trump's tariffs impacting sales, the company commanded 1.7% of the U.S. retail market last year.
Abbott's directive, which was originally issued in 2022, initially focused solely on TikTok. In January, however, he added 26 more companies to the list of prohibited technologies, including DeepSeek, Xiaomi, Alipay, and Baidu.
"Rogue actors across the globe who wish harm on Texans should not be allowed to infiltrate our state's network and devices," Abbott said in a statement at the time. "Hostile adversaries harvest user data through AI and other applications and hardware to exploit, manipulate, and violate users and put them at extreme risk."