Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 10 a.m. (New York City time), 250 Broadway - 8th Floor - Hearing Room 1
Committee: Committee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal Legislation
The Committee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal Legislation, chaired by Council Member Gale A. Brewer, held an oversight hearing titled 'Access to Government and the Mamdani Administration's Civic Engagement Efforts.' The hearing examined city agencies' use of social media influencers, the mayor's office's invite-only Signal group for distributing talking points to influencers, and records retention and FOIL implications under the Department of Records and Information Services' (DORIS) 2025 instant messaging policy. Four bills were considered: Council Member Carr's bills (T2026-2555, T2026-1440) restricting candidates in government-funded communications and requiring reporting on third-party public communications, Council Member Feliz's bill (T2026-2554) requiring disclosure of third-party communications paid for with government resources, and Council Member Won's bill (T2026-2553) requiring campaign finance disclosures in online content. The Campaign Finance Board testified that it does not support T2026-2554 and T2026-1440 as drafted and considers T2026-2553 duplicative of its existing rules. Multiple council members criticized the absence of the mayor's communications office and Director of New Media Amelia Rolland, with one member urging use of subpoena power. No votes were taken.
0:09 Thank you,
0:09 good morning, everyone and
0:11 welcome to today's New yor
0:12 kcity council hearing for the
0:15 committee on governmen
0:16 toperations state and federal
0:18 legislation at this time
0:20 police silence all electronic
0:21 devices. If you would like to
0:22 testify. You must for level
0:23 witness slip with one of the
0:25 sergeant at arms just a
0:26 reminder no 1 approach a dais
0:28 at any time are ready to begin
0:30 . Thank you
0:31 , very much. I'm Gale Brewer
0:34 ,chair of the committee on
0:35 government operation state and
0:37 federal legislation. I want to
0:39 thank everyone for joining us
0:40 today for the hearing on.
0:42 We're calling it access to
0:43 government and the Madam e
0:46 administration civic
0:49 engagement efforts. I would
0:49 certainly like to welcome
0:51 individuals from the
0:52 department of records of
0:54 information services. Doris.
0:55 That's my favorite agency.
0:56 Nobody else likes it as much
0:57 as I do.
0:58 The office of mass
1:00 engagement the campaign
1:01 finance board and the conflict
1:02 member will send us here.blic
1:09 we're going to hear from the
1:12 wonderful public advocate in a
1:14 minute. In addition t
1:15 ooversight. Today we will be
1:16 hearing for pre considered
1:20 bills one, which is sponsored
1:21 by minority leader a car in
1:25 relationship prohibiting
1:25 candidates from appearing in
1:27 certain government funded
1:30 third third communications
1:30 during an election campaign,
1:33 another one sponsored by
1:33 minority leader a car and
1:35 relation to reporting on third
1:38 party public communications
1:39 and another one sponsored by a
1:41 Council Member Feliz in
1:43 relation to require
1:44 disclosures on third party
1:46 public communication paid for
1:47 with government resources and
1:50 finally one sponsored by
1:52 council Wong in relation t
1:53 orequiring campaign finance
1:55 disclosures in content posted
1:58 on internet websites digital
2:01 applications and social media
2:04 platforms and directing the
2:05 campaign finance or to issue
2:07 guidance regarding the
2:09 disclosure record keeping and
2:11 reporting requirements
2:12 applicable to such content.
2:15 Government use of
2:16 influencers has become the
2:17 norm, and that's a good thing.
2:19 Influences are a good thing,
2:21 but.
2:22 Government use influences t
2:24 oincrease awareness on public
2:25 health issues a good thing
2:28 boost election participation
2:30 that's needed attract tourist
2:31 s, among other things, there's
2:34 nothing wrong with using
2:35 influences, and they can
2:36 actually help government
2:40 officials reach populations
2:40 that are difficult to reach
2:43 through traditional
2:44 . Media. Not everybody can
2:45 watch New York, one like me. I
2:47 understand government.
2:48 Agencies in New York City
2:50 primarily used social media
2:51 influence there. Two different
2:54 ways.
2:54 First agencies work with
2:56 influencers to create targeted
3:01 campaigns.
3:01 One of the first examples of
3:03 a successful use of social
3:05 . Media influences in the
3:07 public awareness campaign
3:08 health and hospitals use them
3:10 to encourage New York is to
3:12 get tested and then to get
3:13 vaccinated against kobe
3:16 recently, the campaign finance
3:18 board through its votes
3:21 initiative partnered with
3:22 influences to increase voter
3:24 turnout and civic engagement
3:27 , health and hospitals and the
3:28 campaign finance board
3:31 generally include those
3:32 campaigns include some type of
3:36 disclosure that they are paid
3:37 for by the City. This is not,
3:39 however, the case with all
3:40 City agencies, and that's the
3:44 issue.
3:44 There is no consistency
3:45 among agencies on the wording
3:46 of the disclosure. What kind
3:48 of hashtags, et cetera. The
3:52 second way that the Mayor in
3:54 particular uses social media
3:56 is more.
3:56 Novel and very effective at
4:00 the end of them last month, a
4:02 columbia journalism review by
4:03 the very great doctor anya
4:08 area
4:08 , reported. She reported on
4:09 the use and she'll be here
4:10 today to talk about it of an
4:13 invite only signal group used
4:15 by the mayor's communication
4:16 team to share. Updates talking
4:20 points and clips to a selected
4:22 group of social media
4:24 influencing the signal method
4:25 in app allows users to auto
4:28 delete messages that's cell
4:32 signal works
4:32 an.d it is not clear in what
4:33 cases of this feature was
4:37 active.
4:38 The signal service. Don't
4:39 keep copies of messages.
4:42 So we want to ensure that
4:43 the mayor's team of following
4:46 the city's document retention
4:46 rules when used in the and
4:49 that's called archiving. I'm
4:50 an archive nut. I just want
4:51 people to know
4:52 . They're also appears to be
4:54 at least some overlap between
4:56 the influences who are paid t
4:58 opromote agency campaigns and
5:00 those on the Mayor signal
5:01 distribution list in.
5:02 Addition to finding out
5:03 about the mayor's use of the
5:06 social media influences and
5:07 the signal we are also going
5:08 to hear from the mayor's newly
5:10 created office of mass
5:13 engagement on just his second
5:14 day in office and Mayor
5:15 created this office, which,
5:17 according to the Mayor was
5:18 intended to create a
5:21 connection between City Hall
5:22 and everyday New yorkers
5:24 . This office replaced the
5:25 community affairs unit, the
5:28 public engagement unit, the
5:29 mayor's office of ethnic and
5:33 community media, the office of
5:34 faith based and community
5:35 partnerships and the New York
5:36 City service will all place
5:38 under this New office as well,
5:40 although I think one of the
5:42 Mayor moved over to
5:45 communications
5:45 . While the work of om me is
5:46 consistent with the work of
5:47 the public engagement unit,
5:49 which now reports to wit, it
5:50 has a greater emphasis on
5:52 connected with New yorkers and
5:55 engaging them in governmental
5:55 processes will also making
5:59 sure that they are aware of
5:59 their rights as New yorkers
6:03 . New yorkers need to know
6:04 what their benefits are and
6:06 this office helped to do that.
6:07 We'd like to find out more how
6:10 this office works and how it
6:11 differs from the mayor's
6:13 outreach during the election
6:16 campaign. We also want to hear
6:16 about any legislation that
6:17 they might suggest on this
6:20 topic, and obviously we want
6:22 to know about foyle. We want
6:23 to know about from
6:24 . From doris. Those are the
6:25 issues that I definitely care
6:27 about.
6:27 Um, I want to thank the
6:29 following counsel staff for
6:30 their work on this hearing
6:31 from government ops to hari
6:34 frazier, erica coh anden
6:36 signal hamid and for my staff,
6:39 tula, pooter and cynthia
6:40 hornig, um, and everyone who
6:42 helps make this hearing run
6:43 smoothly, I think we've also
6:45 been joined by minority leader
6:47 car helps remember Wong and on
6:49 zoom Council Member, and I
6:52 don't know if councilmember
6:53 car if you want to or wrong if
6:54 you want to make them opening
6:56 statements go ahead
6:58 , thank you. Chair Brewer for
7:01 holding this important hearing
7:01 today and thank you to speaker
7:02 men in for her leadership on
7:06 this issue when zorn mamdani
7:07 wrote his social media stardom
7:08 to the merrill t last year, I
7:10 think we all understood tha
7:11 tthere was a real paradigm
7:13 shift in the way politicians
7:15 engage with the public that
7:18 was made even more clear when
7:18 the Mayor brought his campaign
7:21 communication apparatus to
7:23 City Hall.
7:24 I don't think we understood
7:24 the extent of that change
7:26 until a recent report by the
7:27 initiative for policy dialogue
7:29 at columbia university
7:30 mentioned my chair, brewe
7:32 rthat revealed at the mayor's
7:33 office has been operating a
7:34 signal group chat called
7:38 creators
7:38 . Announcements with over 200
7:40 social media influencers.
7:43 In this group. The repor
7:43 tfound that the mayor's office
7:45 shares daily talking points
7:46 ,videos and other ways to
7:49 spread favorable messaging
7:50 about the Mayor and the
7:53 administration. They are also
7:54 invited to events and offered
7:55 access to City officials in
7:58 response to this revelation.
7:59 Amelia roland, who has the
8:00 mayor's director of New media
8:01 runs this and influencer.
8:04 Campaign said quote at a
8:05 moment of profound distrust in
8:06 politics, our job is not to
8:08 who once controlled access to
8:12 public information end quote
8:15 .indeed, there is a public a
8:17 profound mistrust in politics
8:19 today, but that mistrust is
8:21 only intensifiedhen w City
8:23 officials conduct business
8:24 with outside entities.
8:26 Using an encrypted messaging
8:27 with disappearing messages.
8:30 Purposely designed to evade
8:32 public scrutiny and laws that
8:35 require recordkeeping. And
8:36 when these New quote unquote
8:37 gatekeepers by their access to
8:39 the Mayor by amplifying his
8:42 propaganda. It's also somewhat
8:43 ironic given roland statement
8:44 that the so called legacy
8:46 media, she seemed to derid
8:48 ewas the one that revealed the
8:50 repetitious partnership. What.
8:51 Makes this New
8:53 communications strategy more
8:54 armialng than others is the
8:56 fact that these influencers
8:57 who have built up their own
8:59 brands because of the
8:59 perception that they are
9:00 genuine and authentic are able
9:03 to convince the public that
9:04 they these are not coordinated
9:06 and often and yet are often
9:07 are and paid for by paid.
9:10 For as a message and
9:11 objective of those so called
9:15 honest views,
9:15 according to the New York
9:16 times an artificial
9:16 intelligence analysis of more
9:18 than a dozen instagram
9:19 influencers who work with the
9:21 mayor's team found that of 178
9:23 videos related to the
9:26 administration, the
9:27 overwhelming majority wer
9:28 epositive, the federal trade
9:29 commission has laws to prevent
9:31 deceptive advertisement,
9:32 including New rules for
9:33 disclosure for social media
9:35 influencers. There are also
9:36 campaign finance rules that
9:37 require disclosure of payments
9:40 to anyone who was working on
9:41 behalf of a candidate and
9:43 their committees. But there is
9:44 a big loophole when it comes
9:46 to this type of relationship
9:48 between influencers and
9:51 government entities. The
9:52 legislation we are introducing
9:53 today aims to close that
9:54 loophole by requiring the
9:55 disclosure of these of these
10:01 relationships, it will let us
10:01 know who was collaborating
10:02 with the mayor's office and
10:03 the City agencies.
10:04 The subject matter of these
10:06 messages and whether they are
10:07 being paid for
10:09 . By the government for such
10:10 messaging and if so, how much
10:11 these are basic art rails that
10:13 will protect against
10:15 misrepresentation and give the
10:16 public, the full picture about
10:18 the message they are receiving
10:20 . Thank you. Chair. Thank you
10:29 very much councilmember while
10:30 do you want to make a
10:31 statement on our show. Okay,
10:39 right. So they'll than we're
10:39 going to hear from the public
10:43 advocate
10:43 . Thank you, Madam chair. Ah,
10:45 my name monty Williams
10:46 probably receive New York want
10:47 to thank chip Brewer and
10:49 members of the governmental
10:50 operations, state and federal
10:51 legislative committee for
10:53 holding his hearing and the
10:53 opportunity to share the
10:56 statement not to create
10:57 effective civic engagement,
10:57 New York. We should readily
10:58 understand who was
10:59 communicating with them and
11:00 what capacity with what
11:02 resources to the agency's use
11:03 social media to communicate
11:05 information about various
11:06 services, emergencies and
11:08 opportunities the city's on
11:09 social media policy recognizes
11:10 that these platforms provide
11:11 agencies with ways to directly
11:13 and meaningful reach
11:14 constituents and disseminate
11:16 information about services it
11:18 provide commonly social media
11:20 content from such an
11:21 individual can see that it
11:22 comes from a government.
11:24 Source simultaneously the
11:25 ever changing digital
11:26 landscape creates New
11:27 questions about how New
11:27 yorkers will continue to be
11:29 able to distinguish official
11:30 government communications from
11:33 communications distributed by
11:33 third parties at its core
11:34 government communications
11:35 should be rooted in
11:36 transparency New yorkers
11:37 should know who is
11:37 communicating with them and
11:38 where the public resource to
11:39 be used in a moment with deep
11:41 fakes and misinformation from
11:42 the highest level of
11:43 government make a public
11:45 discernment increasingly
11:46 difficult. It's even more
11:47 important than ever here in
11:48 New York City that we don't
11:49 just follow every rule for
11:50 compliance, the government,
11:52 but I would build a trust with
11:53 the public that federal
11:54 counterparts in washington
11:56 seem intent on destroying the
11:57 New York City department of
11:59 records and information
12:00 services doris, which
12:01 apparently is the favorite of
12:04 the 20 25 policy on instinct
12:06 electric electronic messages
12:07 explicitly states that message
12:08 is the document decisions,
12:10 actions or policies in an
12:10 office or agency makes must be
12:12 retained and preserved the
12:13 policy further establishes
12:14 that these officers and
12:15 agencies must set procedures
12:17 for gathering methods. These
12:20 messages, including but not
12:20 limited to screen shots or
12:21 exporting data. This raises
12:23 particular concerns my City
12:24 employees or agencies used
12:25 their body messaging apps such
12:27 as whatsapp signal with
12:29 automatic deletion of
12:29 disappearing, you see message
12:31 features while these outside
12:32 applications would be more
12:33 than appropriate for persona
12:36 lcommunications. The message
12:37 delete delegation for a
12:39 delegation feature primates
12:40 public records and data
12:42 intention laws these vanishing
12:43 message to prevent government
12:43 trains transparency making
12:46 public communication
12:49 unrecoverable for freedom o
12:49 finformation open records
12:50 requests using these apps,
12:51 even if no official records
12:53 were deleted
12:53 . Raises questions at minimum
12:55 in the public and the little
12:56 questions that should not be
12:57 should not need to be answered
12:59 if the same permissible
13:00 conversations occurred by all
13:01 the methods as public servants
13:02 , I believe is the best