It’s Time to Rein in Mamdani’s Influencer Army

As a mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani used social-media creators effectively, and his administration continued that approach after he took office. City agencies ask people with large digital audiences to post reminders about sanitation, public health, and how to access municipal services. Social media is a way to reach demographics that get news online: Pew Research finds many adults, especially younger ones, regularly use social platforms for news.

Government communications are governed by New York's Public Officers Law, which requires preservation and public access to government records. That legal framework treats city work as public business and expects records to be retained and disclosed. When official business is routed through private channels or informal agreements with creators, the public can't easily see what messages the city is funding, shaping, or distributing.

• Non-disclosure: The mayor's office has declined to release the names of the estimated 250 influencers it works with.
• Messaging overlap: Reporting shows instances where influencers paid to carry nonpolitical messages also received campaign-style talking points promoting the mayor or administration.

Attorney Jim Walden, representing the nonprofit coalition NYC Common Sense, has asked the Department of Investigation to examine the influencer program. Walden argues New Yorkers should not have to guess whether a post is independent commentary, paid advertising, or government-funded political messaging.

City Council members plan hearings on the issue. Councilmember Phil Wong is preparing legislation that would require disclosure when influencers are paid with taxpayer money, including through PR contractors. Wong's stated position: if influencers are paid to push government messaging, it should be clearly disclosed.

• Preservation matters: If city business occurs in platforms that delete messages, public oversight and future records requests are impaired.
• Oversight options exist: Investigations by the Department of Investigation and council hearings could produce rules requiring disclosure, recordkeeping, and clearer boundaries between public-service communication and political promotion.

City Council hearings will give elected officials a forum to demand documents, question staff, and consider disclosure legislation. The administration says it will review any legal departures, while outside groups seek independent probes. The immediate issue is whether existing practices will be modified through regulation, internal policy changes, or legal action to ensure paid influencer work is transparent and preserved as public records.