Mayor Mamdani's Near-200 Influencer Network Uses City Hall Messaging
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has organized a group of almost 200 social-media influencers who receive daily talking points from City Hall via an encrypted Signal chat.
The Columbia Journalism Review disclosed that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration runs a near-200-member influencer collective called Creators4Zohran, which evolved from a campaign-support group. Managed by the Director of New Media and Cultural Communications, Emilia Rowland, the network receives encrypted Signal messages containing daily talking points, video clips, and suggested language for posts. Certain members are compensated with public funds for work on targeted messaging campaigns, though not for general coverage.
Influencers highlighted in the report include Allie O’Brien, who labeled Mamdani the “mayor of uncontrollable joy,” and an Instagram user from Columbus, Ohio, who posted laudatory videos. Both appear on the Creators4Zohran page, though it is unclear if they belong to the Signal group. City Hall did not respond to inquiries about the digital outreach program.
Why it matters
It shows how municipal officials may be using public money to steer social-media narratives, raising transparency and ethics concerns.
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