The Texas supreme court has suspended a judge whose beating of his then-teenage daughter in 2004 has been viewed millions of times on the internet.

Aransas county court-at-law judge William Adams was suspended immediately with pay pending the outcome of the inquiry started earlier this month by the state commission on judicial conduct, according to an order signed on Tuesday by the clerk of the state's highest court.

The order makes clear that while Adams agreed to the commission's recommended temporary suspension and waived the hearing and notice requirements, he does not admit "guilt, fault or wrongdoing" regarding the allegation.

Adams's daughter Hillary Adams, who is now 23, uploaded the secretly recorded video of her father beating her repeatedly with a belt for making illegal downloads from the internet.

William Adams has not sat on the bench since the video went viral. It has been viewed more than 6m times on YouTube.

The public outcry over the video was so great that in a rare move the state commission on judicial conduct announced publicly on 2 November it had opened an investigation. A statement from the commission said it had been flooded with calls, emails and faxes about the video and Adams.

William Adams appeared in court on Monday for a day-long hearing regarding the custody of his 10-year-old daughter. His wife had sought a change in their joint custody agreement, and another judge imposed a temporary restraining order, in effect keeping Adams from being alone with his younger daughter until he reached a decision. An order was expected in that dispute on Wednesday.

As Aransas county's top judge, Adams has dealt with at least 349 family law cases in the past year alone, nearly 50 of which involved state caseworkers seeking to determine whether parents were fit to raise their children. A visiting judge has been handling his caseload.

After reviewing the investigation conducted by local police, the Aransas county district attorney said too much time had passed to bring charges against Adams.