The City Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations is scheduled to grill City Hall on its ongoing coordination with influencers on Signal, an encrypted messaging app where messages can be set to automatically delete, which has raised questions about transparency and security.
The news of the hearing comes after a report in the Columbia Journalism Review revealed that the Mamdani administration, as part of a larger effort to get news out to New Yorkers on social media, maintains a 200-person group chat on the app to send content creators information, daily updates, talking points, clips to use in their posts, and potential opportunities to make videos with the mayor.
The chat group, titled NYC Creators Announcements, is run by Emilia Rowland, the director of new media and cultural communications at the NYC Office of the Mayor, according to the report.
While Ramzi Kassem, the mayor’s chief counsel, said in a statement that “there is no City policy against using Signal,” city officials’ use of encrypted apps, where messages can be set to automatically delete, would run afoul of Freedom of Information laws.
“I like the mayor, I want to be supportive. I like the influencers I know, I respect them,” Committee Chair Gale Brewer told the Daily News. “But can you FOIL for this information?”
There’s currently no evidence that messages are set to disappear in the City Hall Signal group with online influencers.
Mayor Mamdani emphasized on Wednesday that working with influencers was an important way the administration shares information to reach all New Yorkers — many of whom get their news while scrolling social media.
“My administration will always strive to fully comply with all legal requirements, including those that relate to the preservation of city records, and if there are any departures from what is legally required, my administration will look into it immediately and take corrective action,” the mayor added at the Brooklyn press conference.
The city council hearing is slated for Sept. 22.
“City leaders must be deliberate about how they communicate,” Citizens Union Executive Director Grace Rauh said in a statement. “Any discussion of official government business must occur in a manner that ensures records are preserved and accessible under the Freedom of Information Law. The rules exist to protect the public.”
The group chat serves as an information pipeline for creators with thousands or even millions of followers. It grew out of a “Creators4Zohran” group from last year’s race in support of Zohran Mamdani’s bid for mayor, per the report in CJR.
The Mamdani administration has “never paid a content creator for a collaboration or for content production,” a spokesperson said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
Working with content creators is not a new practice: City agencies, including under former Mayors Adams and de Blasio, have partnered with online personalities to put out information about topics like public health, voting and compost. Councilmembers, including Speaker Julie Menin have also done videos with content creators. And nationally, Democratic and Republican National Committees and both Biden and Trump’s White Houses have made a practice of hosting influencer-friendly events and making efforts to keep them abreast of new developments.
“We’re not keeping up with the new way of communicating; I think the government is slow sometimes,” Brewer said. “Government has to be more up to date and obviously in this case I don’t think we are.”
Multiple councilmembers are looking at introducing legislation, including Queens Councilmember Phil Wong, who said that, while he has no problem with City Hall communicating with influencers, he’s concerned about instances where they are paid for posts. Wong is looking at a bill to require disclosures for posts that were paid for by the city.
“Government can communicate,” Wong said on social media. “But taxpayers have a right to know when they’re paying for the message.”
A spokesperson for Menin, who has frequently served as a check on the mayor, said that the speaker was not driving this issue herself but is supportive of a hearing.
Councilmember Chi Ossé, a Gen Z rep and ally of Mamdani’s, suggested hosting the hearing was out-of-touch with New Yorkers’ pocketbook issues.
“FINALLY, this is what’s going to make New York City more affordable!” Ossé sarcastically wrote on social media.