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The hateful ‘influence’ of Mamdani’s social media army — celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder, apologies for terrorists

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Mayor Mamdani has created an army of social-media influencers to help boost his administration, a recent exposé in the Columbia Journalism Review reveals.

But while the mayor’s unorthodox media strategy has gotten scrutiny, not enough attention has been paid to the influencers themselves and their views.

Some in the mayor’s coterie are relatively innocuous. But others celebrate the assassination of Charlie Kirk, claim America runs “mass concentration camps” and make apologies for terrorist attacks targeting synagogues.

These influencers can hardly be said to represent New Yorkers. Hundreds of posts from those identified as belonging to the group chat of the Mamdani administration media team have been devoted to police and prison abolition, dismantling Immigration and Customs Enforcement and lambasting Israel.

The content belies the mayor’s polished image as a moderate and offers more evidence that his social and professional circles are more radical than he lets on.

Mamdani has embraced influencer communications since taking office in January. “We need to speak to New Yorkers through every single medium that they see themselves and see the world around them, and all of you are such critical parts of that,” he said at an influencer-only summit hosted during his first week in office.

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Joining Mamdani’s influencer brigade is easy, the CJR reported. After filling out an intake form, influencers receive “daily updates, talking points, and clips” through the “NYC Creators Announcements” group chat on the encrypted-messaging platform Signal. The initiative is led by Emilia Rowland, who serves as the mayor’s director of New Media and Cultural Communications.

Until two weeks ago, posts on that chat were set to auto-delete, in apparent violation of state record-keeping rules. Pro-Mamdani posters have found themselves scoring interviews with the mayor and, more significantly, positioning themselves to secure paid sponsorships promoting the work of........

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