TikTok Banned on City of LG Devices

The La Grange City Council approved a new technology policy that bans the popular social media platform TikTok from all city devices.

The policy comes in response to a statewide directive from Texas Governor Greg Abbott and State Senate Bill 1893. Council passed the policy without any discussion.

In 2022, the U.S. Congress passed a law banning TikTok from federal devices over concerns about national security. The company that owns Tik-Tok, ByteDance, is based in China. U.S. lawmakers passed the ban over concerns about surveillance by the Chinese government.

Many states, including Texas, passed similar bans. The Texas law, Senate Bill 1893, extends to all political subdivisions of the state, including city governments.

The new policy for La Grange states that the City will “identify, track, and manage” all city-owned or cityleased devices such as mobile phones, tablets and computers. The policy prohibits the installation and use of TikTok or any other social media services that the Governor may specify in the future.

The policy also calls for the city to maintain “the ability to remotely wipe non-compliant or compromised mobile devices” and “the ability to remotely uninstall unauthorized software.”

Furthermore, the policy says it may also apply to “em- ployee-owned devices that are used to conduct City business.”

Later in the meeting, during the public comment, local tech entrepreneur Sven Mesecke criticized the Council’s decision. Mesecke noted that President-elect Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to “save TikTok.” The Washington Post reported this week on Trump insiders who say the president-elect intends to reel-back the federal ban once in office.

“After this meeting, pull up your phone and type ‘Trump TikTok,’” Mesecke said. “It’s over in January. That action is going to stop at the federal level. Meanwhile the City’s going to have to put some policies in place that’ll be expensive and overbearing.”

Mesecke called the policy a “precedent” and “slippery slope.”

“The City has never done anything like this before, as far as surveillance of employee devices,” he said.

Mesecke said TikTok can be a useful tool for law enforcement to “see what’s going on this Friday night, where the kids are at.”

After the meeting, Thompson said the policy provides an exception for law enforcement to use TikTok in investigations.

“There are exceptions that can be put in place for a law enforcement officer to use TikTok,” Mesecke said. “It’s a process with administration, as well they have to consult with the City Attorney. So resources are getting used before the software has gone to work.

“It’s going to be ineffective,” he added. “It’s a political thing. It’s a U.S.-China thing. It’s not a La Grange thing. I think its a really poor precedent to set. What’s next? Other social media?”

Mesecke’s comments were essentially moot since the Council had approved the policy earlier in the meeting. The City reshuffled the Council meeting agendas several months ago after Thompson came on board as the new city manager.

Public comments were moved from the beginning of the meetings to the very end. As a result, Council members did not get to hear Mesecke’s concerns until after they had voted.