NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces questions about encrypted Signal channel for influencers
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing questions about the city's use of an encrypted messaging channel to send information to social media influencers.
A report from the Initiative for Policy Dialogue says the mayor's office uses the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate with a group of over 200 social media influencers.
Signal offers a feature that allows messages to be automatically deleted, which some critics say is a violation of city regulations about preserving records and government transparency.
At an unrelated press conference Friday, Mamdani was asked about the deleted messages.
"Our administration will always strive to comply with all legal requirements, including those that relate to the preservation of city records, and if we find that there are any departures from what's legally required, my administration will look into it and immediately take corrective action," he said.
The mayor's chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, said staffers were reminded to disable Signal's disappearing message feature.
"As soon as we found out from the reporting, we took immediate corrective steps, and we will continue to look into this," he said.
New York City Councilwoman Gale Brewer says her committee on government operations is going to hold public hearings on the issue.
"The biggest issue for me is you have a conversation that's about government material and that information cannot be [provided under the Freedom of Information Law], cannot be archived," she said. "I have five pages here of questions already."
"It bothers me a lot because when we have news conferences, there's an open discussion. Everyone's in the room. You're free to ask questions," Councilman Phil Wong said. "And in this model, they are promoting what's been given to them from the mayor's office. And that's not news. That's not broadcasting ... It's propaganda."
Akilah Hughes, a comedian with more than 200,000 followers, says she gets information from the mayor's director of new media. She says she reaches a different audience than journalists.
"The people who are following me aren't necessarily out of the loop, but they are often a lot younger, they can't afford a paywall," she said. "They, you know, maybe have kids now and are in that stage of their life where the day to day is not being updated for them."
Councilmembers plan to question the administration about the role of influencers at a Sept. 22 meeting.
