Mamdani’s Staff Coached 200 Influencers — What They Got CAUGHT At

Zohran Mamdani smiling indoors near a voting sign with an American flag — Photo: Ron Adar / Shutterstock

A watchdog group has asked New York City’s ethics board to investigate Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office over a private group chat that sent City Hall talking points to more than 200 social media influencers. The complaint says city staff, paid by taxpayers, ran the chat to push the mayor’s message.

Story Highlights

Democracy Restored, a Texas-based government watchdog, filed the complaint on Friday, October 2, with the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board.
The complaint centers on “NYC Creators Announcements,” a group chat on Signal, a phone app that scrambles messages so only the people in the chat can read them.
The mayor’s office gave no immediate response to the complaint. Its top lawyer said in September that the city follows the rules.
A complaint is a request for an investigation. The board has made no finding against the mayor or his staff.

Who Filed the Complaint and Why

Houston Keene, the director of Democracy Restored, sent the letter to the Conflicts of Interest Board, the city agency that enforces ethics rules for New York City officials and employees. He asked the board to look into how the mayor’s staff used Signal to talk with influencers, people with large followings on social media. The complaint says the practice broke city ethics and conflict of interest rules.

“The purpose of the official Signal chat was clear — to relay talking points to more than 200 social media influencers,” Keene wrote to the board. “In fact, that is what occurred.” He called the effort “astroturfing,” a word for support that is arranged from the top but made to look like it comes from ordinary people.

How the Chat Worked

According to the complaint, the chat was set up by Emilia Rowland, the mayor’s director of New Media and Cultural Communications. It cites a journalism review’s report from August that said she created an official Signal account and invited a “curated list” of influencers. That report said the group grew out of a network of creators who backed Mamdani’s campaign for mayor.

Members received talking points, videos and updates from the administration, along with access to events and city officials, according to reports. The August report said influencers in the group are not paid by the city for their coverage. It said some were paid by city agencies for work on specific messaging campaigns.

The complaint argues that the public is being kept in the dark about that spending. “At bottom, however, is the fact that taxpayer money is being spent on campaigns involving influencers with almost no knowledge of how or why,” it says.

The Disappearing Messages

The complaint also says the chat broke New York’s Freedom of Information Law, the state law that lets the public ask to see government records. Signal has a setting that erases messages after a set time. The watchdog says that setting keeps the city from saving records it is required to keep.

The City Council held an oversight hearing on Tuesday, September 22. Council members raised concerns that messages erased by the app could not be kept or handed over under the records law. Rowland did not testify. Council Minority Leader David Carr, who leads the minority party on the council, said the panel the administration sent was “missing crucial components.”

What City Hall Has Said

The Mamdani administration did not immediately respond to the complaint. Ramzi Kassem, the mayor’s chief counsel, meaning his top lawyer, told reporters in September that the office “took immediate corrective action” after news reports that staff were deleting messages. He said employees were trained to turn off disappearing messages on Signal and that the city complies with the rules.

Keene disputes that. He says the mayor’s office has resisted the City Council’s inquiry and has shared little about its use of Signal since the hearing.

What Happens Next

The Conflicts of Interest Board decides whether to open an investigation. It has not announced a decision. The complaint is an accusation, not a finding, and the mayor’s top lawyer has said the city complies with the rules.

The issue for taxpayers is simple. When a post about City Hall looks like one person’s honest opinion, readers have a right to know whether city staff supplied the words. Records that are kept, and spending that is reported in the open, let the public judge that for itself.