New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come under fire for using the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate with elected officials while conducting government business.
On the campaign trail, Mamdani repeatedly promised his administration would be transparent. Yet, a Politico report revealed that the mayor used Signal from a personal phone number to communicate with elected officials and political strategists. In at least one of these exchanges, he discussed official city business.
Three people with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO that as mayor Mamdani has used the encrypted messaging app to communicate with fellow elected officials and political advisers. In at least one instance, he’s discussed government business over the app, according to one of those people, who like the others, was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
POLITICO independently confirmed that Mamdani’s Signal account, registered to his personal cell phone number, remains active.
Norman Siegel, a veteran First Amendment lawyer who previously helmed the New York Civil Liberties Union, said mayors should never use Signal to communicate with other government officials as a rule of thumb — and that there’s another particularly important reason why Mamdani himself should avoid the app.
“With our new mayor, so much of what he’s articulating is a breath of fresh air,” Siegel said. ”I would urge him to not engage in Signal or similar kinds of applications that basically are meant to hide information and prevent the public from knowing the inner workings of government.”
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MAMDANI USED SIGNAL: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has used the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate with fellow elected officials and political advisers, potentially violating record-keeping and freedom of information laws, it was reported. pic.twitter.com/LcxLC5hzk6
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) March 3, 2026
Mamdani’s campaign stressed that he would differ from the previous administration by running an open, accountable government. Yet his team did not respond to Politico’s questions about how his Signal use aligns with those promises.
Joe Borelli, the City Council’s former Republican leader, defended Mamdani, saying “Only an idiot wouldn’t use it after seeing the probes of the last admin” and pointed out that “It isn’t illegal in 99 percent of his conversations, and it protects both parties.”
However, Grace Rauh, who filed a lawsuit that compelled former Mayor Bill de Blasio to release emails he exchanged with advisers, stressed that leaders “must be deliberate about how they communicate” and that “Any discussion of official government business must occur ina manner that ensures records are preserved and accessible under the Freedom of Information Law.”
Regardless of whether Mamdani discussed city business via Signal, this is far from the transparency Mamdani promised. Why would he need to use an encrypted messaging app to communicate with strategists and other elected officials if everything he’s doing is on the up-and-up?
When a politician runs on openness and transparency, immediately using an app like Signal shortly after taking office isn’t a good look. The fact that even a leftist publication like Politico exposed his messaging habits shows that this could become an issue for Mamdani as he tries to build trust with his constituents.
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