FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2026
democracyrestored.org

Washington, D.C. — In case you missed it, Democracy Restored filed a complaint with the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB), asking it to investigate the alleged use of an official Signal messaging account by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s staff to coordinate messaging campaigns with social-media influencers that promoted the New York City mayor’s agenda, all on the taxpayer’s dime.

The complaint centers on a Signal chat reportedly established by Emilia Rowland, the Mayor’s Director of New Media and Cultural Communications. This chat was used “to relay talking points to more than 200 social media influencers,” the Columbia Journalism Review reported in August. Per the report, this Signal chat was used to commission social-media influencers to peddle propaganda on behalf of the mayor for $5,000 to $25,000 per campaign. These funds would be paid out from city agencies, meaning New York City taxpayers were footing the bill for pro-Mamdani political propaganda. Additionally, a member of Mamdani’s staff allegedly set the chat to autodelete, meaning official city records were allegedly destroyed.

The New York City Council has sought to investigate these claims; however, the mayor’s office has refused to substantively comply with questions about its conduct regarding Signal. During a recent City Council hearing on the allegations, the mayor’s office failed to send anyone with actual knowledge of the Signal chat, its contents, or the influencer contracts to participate; earning criticism from the council. Mamdani has previously denied any wrongdoing regarding the use of the app.

Not only is this use of taxpayer funds for a specific political agenda highly unethical and the mayor’s actions around it suspect, but it may also be illegal in several ways. According to COIB code, official city social-media accounts must be used only for official business and not for political purposes. Additionally, there is concern about whether the use of this encrypted chat violates New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) stating that official government records must be retained. Rowland, a city employee and therefore subject to COIB rules, used an encrypted chat that had messages set to delete. As such, her actions require serious scrutiny.

Democracy Restored calls on COIB to investigate these allegations, determine what exactly was the mayor’s relationship with these influencers, and find out whether the alleged arrangement violated New York City laws in using taxpayer funds for inappropriate activity and concealing records of any wrongdoing.

“New Yorkers should not have to rely on fragments of reporting to understand what city officials are doing with taxpayer-funded resources,” said Houston Keene, Director of Democracy Restored. “The public deserves to know how city resources are being used to pay influencers to promote the mayor’s political agenda and why city records were allegedly deleted.”

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