(The Center Square) — A Texas-based government watchdog group has filed a complaint against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over his administration’s use of taxpayer money on social media influencers in an effort to sway public support for his lefty agenda.
In a letter to the New York Conflicts of Interest Board on Friday, obtained exclusively by The Center Square, Democracy Restored Director Houston Keene called for an investigation into Mamdani’s staff use of Signal app accounts to communicate with social-media influencers, which he alleges is a violation of the city’s ethics and conflict of interest rules.
The complaint referenced a Columbia Journalism Review investigative report, published in August, that revealed how Mamdani’s director of New Media and Cultural Communications Emilia Rowland had created an official Signal account and invited a “curated list” of social-media influencers to propagate the mayor’s agenda.
“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.”
The City Council held an oversight hearing in September where they peppered Mamdani administration officials with questions about the use of social media influencers. At the hearing, council members in good government groups raised concerns about use of the app to spread propaganda or conceal public information.
“At bottom, however, is the fact that taxpayer money is being spent on campaigns involving influencers with almost no knowledge of how or why,” the group’s complaint stated.
Democracy Restored, which describes itself as a nonpartisan government watchdog, also alleges the communications violate New York’s Freedom of Information Law, which holds that electronic messages are “records” required to be retained.
The use of Signal with its “disappearing messages and unobtainable information” prevents those communications from being saved as a public record, the complaint states.
“The ethical and conflicts-of-interest implications presented by the Mayor’s office’s use of this Signal chat are undeniable,” Keene wrote.
There was no immediate response from the Mamdani administration to the complaint.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who took over the City Hall in January, has previously denied any wrongdoing by use of the Signal app, which has been used by previous New York City mayors and city agencies for various kinds of communications. He has also denied paying social influencers for interviews with him.
Ramzi Kassem, chief counsel to the mayor, told reporters in September that following news reports that staffers were deleting messages the administration “took immediate corrective action” including training staff to ensure they disable the “disappearing messages” function on the Signal app when using it to communicate. He claimed the city is in compliance with rules on the use of social media apps.
But Keene, in an interview, said Mamdani’s office has largely resisted the City Council’s investigation and so far has provided little information about the use of the Signal app since the hearing.
He said Mamdani has yet to answer for the use of taxpayer money on the social media influence peddling campaign, and has brushed aside the larger issue of deleting public records.
“What the mayor was basically doing was astroturfing public support for his agenda by getting social media influencers to promote his government agenda and goals,” he said in an interview. “We believe there are serious ethical and conflict of interest issues involved here, and that there is very good cause for the conflict of interest board to get involved.”
This story originally appeared in The Center Square.
