Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s communications team used Signal to coordinate with nearly 200 social media influencers despite an explicit January ban on the encrypted app for government work, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post.
The directive, issued Jan. 15 by Mamdani chief counsel Ramzi Kassem, prohibited staff from using Signal, WhatsApp, or any other communications platform for work purposes. “You should not use WhatsApp, Signal, or any other communications app or platform for work,” the memo reads. “If you have questions about the use of other platforms, please contact the Office of the Chief Counsel.”
Emilia Rowland, the director of Mamdani’s New Media and Cultural Communications, and others on her staff disregarded the order. They continued using Signal to chat with influencers as part of their effort to tap into the pro-Mamdani influencer network from the campaign and deploy it to bolster the administration’s public image.
The administration reinforced the policy with a training session in early March, according to insiders familiar with the matter. The sessions walked workers through records preservation requirements that apply to all emails and messages under city law.
Kassem offered a starkly different characterization when news of the encrypted chat broke publicly. “There is no City policy against using Signal,” he said in a statement. He added that “the conversation is not inaccessible to the public because the settings were set to auto-delete until reporters started reaching out about it.”
City Council members had prepared to question staffers directly involved in the influencer operation at a hearing Tuesday. The administration instead sent Tascha Van Auken, director of the mayor’s office of mass engagement, and records commissioner Shawnta Smith-Cruz. Neither had any connection to the influencer chat.
Pressed on the contradiction between Kassem’s memo and his public statements, Mamdani deflected to his chief counsel’s office. “To quote the chief counsel, there are trainings and there are re-trainings, and that will continue because for us, being in accordance with the record-keeping laws of the city is of paramount importance,” he said. “I will defer to chief counsel to answer more specifically to your question.”
The nearly 200-person influencer network represents an unusually large and organized effort by a city administration to manufacture social media support. The participants, drawn from Mamdani’s campaign operation, received coordinated messaging through the Signal chats that auto-deleted until media inquiries triggered a settings change.
City Hall did not respond to follow-up questions about the memo and Kassem’s statement.
The hearing is expected to continue with potential additional testimony from administration officials involved in the communications operation.