New York Post
· collected 2026-09-04 · by Matthew Fischetti, Craig McCarthy, Matt Troutman
City Hall officials under Mayor Zohran Mamdani broke state record-keeping rules by using a secret Signal chat that was set to auto-delete messages until last week. The mayor's top attorney, Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem, seemingly admitted to the mistake and took corrective actions after being informed by a reporter. According to Kassem, staff were reminded to disable disappearing messages, but watchdogs and critics argue this is just one part of a larger issue with Mamdani's administration trying to sway public opinion through secret communications. The use of Signal and self-destructing messages has raised concerns that officials are hiding communications from the public.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Mayor Zohran Mamdani's chief influencer, Emilia Winter Rowland, 31 years old, is the granddaughter of Joan Rowland, who founded PR firm The Rowland Agency. Rowland, whose parents also work in public relations, makes $175,000 a year spoon-feeding talking points to pro-Mamdani online personalities. Despite being part of a powerful PR empire, she defends her actions by criticizing the "legacy press" and its wealthy owners, saying they control access to information and have concentrated ownership among a few billionaires.
In related news, City Hall officials, including Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem, admitted to breaking state record-keeping rules with a secret Signal chat filled with pro-Mamdani influencers. The chat was set to auto-delete messages until last week, when a reporter informed them about it. Kassem said they took "corrective actions" after learning of the issue, which included reminding staff to disable disappearing messages.
This comes as City Councilman Phil Wong is pushing a bill to provide guardrails for how New York City government taps influencers. The scandal has sparked concerns that Mamdani's administration is trying to sway public opinion underhandedly.
Written for “Mayor's Secret Influencer Army Scandal” on 2026-09-05,
grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but none of the 1 quote(s) it offered could be found in the article text, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 4225: no verified evidence · logged 2026-09-05
City Hall officials broke state record-keeping rules with a secret Signal chat filled with pro-Zohran Mamdani influencers, the mayor’s top attorney seemingly admitted Friday.
asserted
attorney → break → influencers
Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem revealed that officials took “corrective actions” — but only after learning from a reporter that the message thread was set to auto-delete until last week.
“Once we learned about this particular instance from reporting, the corrective actions that we took included reminding staff to disable disappearing messages,” Kassem said during a security briefing for the weekend’s upcoming J’Ouvert and West Indian American Day festivities.
asserted
Kassem → reveal → festivities
The New York Times reported the influencer chats ran by Mamdani’s “new media” whiz Emilia Rowland, who draws a $175,000-a-year salary, were set to erase messages after she sent them.
asserted
she → report → them
Watchdogs and critics argued the self-destructing messages not only clearly violated state law requiring public officials to maintain records, but also dovetailed with concerns that Mamdani’s administration was underhandedly trying to sway public opinion.
asserted
administration → argue → opinion
City Councilman Phil Wong is pushing a bill to provide guardrails for how New York City government taps influencers after it was revealed Mamdani’s staff maintained the secret chat feeding online personalities administration talking points.
asserted
staff → push → points
“Council members are racing to introduce legislation because this is one of the biggest scandals we’ve seen out of City Hall, and the administration calling it a ‘faux scandal’ after they royally screwed up only makes it worse,” he told The Post on Friday.
asserted
he → race → Friday
“Blatantly using taxpayer dollars and government resources for a propaganda machine is a huge red flag, and the Council needs to come down hard on it because New York City has a mayor, not a king.
asserted
City → use → mayor
Mamdani isn’t the first New York pol to potentially run afoul of record-keeping and transparency laws.
asserted
Mamdani → run → laws
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio had to cough up emails with his closest private advisers in 2017 after a lawsuit from The Post and NY1.
asserted
Blasio → have → Post
And former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a shared nemesis of both Mamdani and de Blasio’s, and his staff drew fire for using BlackBerry smartphones to avoid digital paper trails.
asserted
Cuomo → share → trails
Criminal attorney Cory H. Morris, who handles lawsuits over public records violations, said the use of Signal — an encrypted messaging app that prominently features disappearing messages — implies Mamdani’s staff is sharing communications they don’t want the public to see.
asserted
public → handle → communications
“It’s not innocuous,” Morris told The Post.
asserted
Morris → ’ → Post
“They are trying to evade the records law by using something that destroys the records, or for that matter, that doesn’t keep a record.”
asserted
that → try → record
Start your day with all you need to know
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
asserted
Report → start → news
Watchdogs at good government group Reinvent Albany had mixed view of Mamdani’s influencer list.
asserted
Watchdogs → have → list
They said using influencers, whether paid or not, can be an effective way to market programs and policies to New Yorkers — although they argued the collaboration should be voluntarily disclosed.
asserted
collaboration → say → Yorkers
But city officials shouldn’t use instant messaging apps such as Signal to communicate with the public, precisely because of transparency concerns, the watchdogs said.
asserted
watchdogs → use → concerns
John Kaehny, the group’s executive director, said he was inclined to believe City Hall officials are more inexperienced than sinister.
asserted
officials → say → ?
“I tend at this point not to see anything nefarious at all with the Mamdani City Hall, but it is, at best, a lack of professionalism and lack of basic standards and training, and it’s very sloppy
asserted
it → tend → standards
,” he said.
“If they continue and they persist with using Signal and other instant messaging stuff, then it’ll be about more than that it will be about trying to keep things secret,” Kaehny added.
asserted
Kaehny → say → things
“It’s not going to be an excuse that ‘we’re new’ for very much longer.”
asserted
we → go → ?
— Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden and Kyle Schnitzer
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come under fire after it was revealed the Signal app was used to coordinate propaganda efforts among social media influencers.
asserted
app → come → influencers
Watchdogs and critics argued the self-destructing messages clearly violated state law requiring public officials to maintain records.
asserted
messages → argue → records
dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images
Ramzi Kassem, head of legal for New York City Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, is pictured as Mamdani launches the Deed Theft Prevention Office on April 24, 2026, at The Brooklyn Bank in Brooklyn.
asserted
Mamdani → picture → Brooklyn
The watchdogs said that city officials shouldn't use instant messaging apps such as Signal to communicate with the public.
asserted
officials → say → public
