TikTok and Test Scores: Analyzing the Impact of the Texas TikTok Ban on Student Test Scores

Abstract

The December 2022 Texas TikTok ban was enacted due to security and privacy concerns at the state level. However, the ban may have had unintended impacts on Texas students’ test scores. In this paper, I utilize a differences-in-differences event study and a synthetic control differences-in-differences event study to measure the causal impact of this legislation on student test scores. I find that the ban had an overarching positive and significant effect on students’ standardized test scores in RLA (reading/language arts), but little impact on overall math scores. Low-income students experienced a greater impact in both subjects compared to non-low-income students, with various effects on other identity groups. My findings generally align with the existing literature.