Influencers aligned with Mayor Mamdani’s administration quickly came to his defense on Thursday, proudly revealing that they share his messaging under the guise of reporting news.
One notable progressive Instagram account, “Vote In Or Out,” which boasts 1.1 million followers, openly shared its connections to City Hall. The account’s creator expressed enthusiasm about effectively disseminating the administration’s narrative.
Lisa Chin Mollica, a 48-year-old from Brooklyn who manages the account, told her followers, “I honestly can’t believe how a small team can communicate with all of us.” She seemed genuinely thrilled about the constant flow of information, events, and policies she receives.
She mentioned having regular, direct contact with the media team at City Hall, which keeps her updated with a steady stream of policy details, event announcements, and background information.
The account’s bio claims to deliver “news” alongside various “perspectives,” and it also produced a non-partisan, fact-checked voter guide for the 2020 elections.
However, nestled between a wave of anti-Trump and anti-ICE posts are messages that closely mirror the Mamdani administration’s talking points, often with captions reminiscent of official press releases.
For example, a post from September 2 quoted an announcement from the mayor regarding AI use in public schools, complete with video footage from the press conference.
Mollica stated that, although she has never been financially compensated by Mamdani’s team, City Hall staff members frequently contact her—often via direct text messages—to share insights that enhance the visibility of their messaging.
In the comments section of one of her posts, a user pointed out, “You might not work for Mamdani, but there’s definitely bias.”
Her account also shares content from other influencers connected to the nearly 200-member City Hall group on Signal—a fact that came to light in a major report by the Columbia Journalism Review, which is now prompting an oversight hearing by the City Council on September 22.
The report also indicated that some of these digital content creators had been compensated by city agencies for outreach efforts, although specifics about the contracts were scarce. Mamdani’s administration did not provide additional comments beyond defending the choice of using Signal.
Additionally, there were no responses on whether they employed this Signal network to address The Post’s coverage of the CJR story.
Several other influencers have also acknowledged their involvement in Mamdani’s covert network since the administration’s social media coordination was exposed.
Cassie Willson shared a mock-up of a check for $10,000 she claimed to have received from the Mamdani campaign to her 314,000 followers on Instagram, joking about its authenticity.
She expressed that Mamdani’s team has done an impressive job of engaging with local creators to keep them informed about new policies and initiatives. “A program is really only as effective as the awareness around it,” she stated.
Willson defended the mayor following backlash for omitting Little Italy from his immigrant enclave map, creating a humorous post about an Italian festival in Williamsburg that she felt was inauthentic.
It was uncertain if City Hall had influenced Willson’s commentary to help mitigate the negative publicity.
Another influencer, Ariana Afshar, simultaneously claimed to just “report the news” and expressed her genuine admiration for the Mamdani administration.
Ariana, who has a LinkedIn profile stating she resides in California, told her 433,000 Instagram followers that her feelings come from a sincere appreciation for Mamdani’s leadership.
Miral Sattar, an entrepreneur who runs a book-themed Instagram account, acknowledged her collaboration with the administration but clarified that officials do not dictate her content. She explained that she often requests material for her posts because she wants to highlight certain issues.
Sattar fondly recalled campaigning for Mamdani when he had very low polling numbers, stating, “I was part of his journey before he even became mayor.”
Megan Klink, who operates the podcast “Pretty Informed Girls,” criticized mainstream media in an impassioned Instagram post, asserting that the staff in Mamdani’s office are exceptionally competent.
“They’ve built an incredible network of influencers and creators to share information that legacy media doesn’t cover,” she mentioned, citing instances where important issues, such as warming centers during winter, received little attention from conventional news outlets.
