La Porte amends employee handbook to ban TikTok on city devices

La Porte City Council on Nov. 11 voted to amend the employee handbook to prohibit TikTok and other applications covered under Senate Bill 1893 from being installed on city-owned or leased devices. Staff said any covered application already installed will be removed and employees will be informed of the change.

A city staff member explained the proposed language is intended to implement the state requirement and to be included in the ongoing handbook update. "Assuming your approval of this, we will update our handbook, and we'll communicate with employees about the change so that everyone is clear that TikTok and other devices covered are not to be on city-owned or leased devices," the staff member said.

Councilmembers asked whether the city could technically enforce the ban on devices and whether the city maintained a TikTok account. Staff declined to detail security capabilities in the meeting but said work is underway to better manage applications on city devices; they also said the city does not have a TikTok account.

A motion to accept staff's recommendation was made by Mr. Engelkin and seconded by Mr. Bentley; the council approved the amendment by voice vote.