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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.”
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“If there are any departures from what is legally required, my administration will look into it immediately and take corrective action,” Mamdani added on Wednesday.
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.
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City employees told researchers the payments to influencers for their work ranged from $5,000 to $20,000 per campaign, according to the report.
The Signal group was formed out of Creators4Zohran, a group that supported Mamdani’s 2025 mayoral campaign. Mamdani rocked the political world by winning election as the first socialist mayor of the nation’s most populous city.
The group chat is steered by Emilia Rowland, the New York City director of new media and cultural communications. Rowland and her staff push out daily updates, talking points, and clips that the influencers can use in their posts.
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The chat operates like a traditional press list used by communications teams to send updates and information to reporters.
Cities are increasingly using influencers to promote municipal services, policies and to engage the public more directly than through traditional media.
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“New Yorkers get their news in a wide variety of ways, and it is our responsibility to ensure that we communicate information from city government directly to the people of the city, whether that means to all of you, to TV, to radio, to social media, to content creators and so on and so forth,” Mamdani emphasized.
Fox News Digital reached out to City Hall but didn’t receive a response at the time this report was published.
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