City Council

NB 1. Introduction of an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Lancaster, California, adding Chapter 2.64 (City Social Media Accounts) to Title 2 of the Lancaster Municipal Code to establish viewpoint-neutral, conduct-based standards for the moderation of official City social media accounts, and ratifying and continuing the city’s internal and external social media policies Recommendation(s): Introduce and conduct the first reading of Ordinance No. _________, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Lancaster, California, adding Chapter 2.64 (City Social Media Accounts) to Title 2 of the Lancaster Municipal Code to establish viewpoint-neutral, conduct- based standards for the moderation of official City social media accounts, and ratifying and continuing the city’s internal and external social media policies The proposed ordinance codifies in the Lancaster Municipal Code the standards governing moderation of public comment on City accounts, so that the grounds for moderation are fixed, public, exhaustive, and amendable only by ordinance, while operational administration remains in the administrative policies. The ordinance is adopted to secure substantial, viewpoint-neutral City interests in the orderly operation of its communication channels; protecting staff, officials, and members of the public from true threats, doxing, impersonation, and fraud; preventing automated spam, duplicate flooding, and account evasion that crowd out ordinary civic participation; and maintaining cybersecurity, records integrity, and operational continuity. The ordinance establishes conduct-based, viewpoint- neutral standards, documentation requirements, appeal rights, training, and audits. It is not adopted to suppress, and shall not be applied to suppress, criticism of the City, its officials, or its policies; identical substantive standards apply to supportive and critical expression alike.