New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office operates a private Signal group of more than 200 influencers, supplying them with talking points, video clips, and daily updates to amplify City Hall’s message online, according to a new report from Columbia Journalism School’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism and Columbia’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue.
The encrypted chat, called NYC Creators Announcements, is run by Emilia Rowland, the mayor’s director of new media and cultural communications, and her staff. Members range from micro-influencers with 5,000 to 10,000 followers to creators with millions. Researchers say coordinated posts can get an extra boost from Instagram and TikTok recommendation algorithms.
The group grew out of Creators4Zohran, the campaign network that helped elect Mamdani. After he took office, it was rebuilt as an official channel for coverage and talking points. Influencers fill out an intake form about where they live and what they cover, then get targeted invitations—events, interviews with officials, neighborhood canvasses, and footage to film. City Hall declined to release a membership list; the researchers compiled 189 names of creators with ties to the administration.
The report describes two tracks: the unpaid Signal list that functions like a press list, and paid pilot programs routed through contractors. Both sit in a wider shift toward creator-first communications. In January 2026, Mamdani held an influencer-only briefing at City Hall that aides said drew 78 creators with a combined reach of about 82 million people; traditional news outlets were kept out.
Watchdogs have already flagged Mamdani’s use of Signal for official business because disappearing or encrypted messages can clash with New York’s public-records rules. The new report adds a different concern: taxpayer-funded messaging that is hard to trace, delivered through personalities who often look independent to their audiences.