Mayor Zohran Mamdani with influencer Megan Klink (l) one of the pro-Mamdani influencers in a group chat set up by City Hall to provide administration talking points. (Credit: Instagram)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is giving special access to a network of approximately 200 social media influencers who take City Hall talking points and videos to promote municipal programs online to residents, according to a new report.
The report, by the Columbia Journalism Review, highlights that the online personalities get their talking points through an encrypted Signal group text, called “NYC Creators Announcements.”
Signal offers a disappearing-messages feature that can automatically delete messages after a set period of time if enabled. It is unclear whether that feature is active in the Mamdani administration’s group, raising questions about compliance with city record-keeping laws.
Questioned by reporters whether the use of Signal possibly breaks city laws, Mamdani said, “My administration will always strive to fully comply with all legal requirements, including those that relate to the preservation of city records.”
The use of Signal for government communications made major headlines last year, when then-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came under fire after sensitive, real-time details about U.S. military strikes were shared in a Signal group that included a journalist.
The Columbia Journalism Review report also said influencers are not paid by the city for participating in the group or for their coverage, although some receive payments from marketing and advertising firms with contracts from city agencies for work on specific messaging campaigns. The municipal programs promoted include voting, healthcare, immigration and tenants’ rights, participatory budgeting and composting. (Read more: Fox News, 9/3/2026) (Archive)