TOTAL BS!
NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has assembled a network of more than 200 social-media influencers as part of a new governing strategy in which city services will be evaluated according to likes, shares and positive reaction videos.
The creators receive daily talking points, video clips and invitations to events through an encrypted Signal group administered by the mayor’s office.
City officials said the network will help New Yorkers understand that municipal programs are succeeding, particularly when traditional measurements suggest otherwise.
“For years, government performance was judged by outdated metrics such as cost, reliability and whether anything actually improved,” an administration official said. “Those figures do not capture engagement.”
Under the new system, a delayed subway train will be considered on time if video of the delay receives at least 100,000 views.
Uncollected garbage will be reclassified as “authentic neighborhood content,” while potholes may qualify as interactive street features when enough residents photograph them.
The administration is also developing a digital dashboard that will allow New Yorkers to compare rising rents with the number of influencers explaining that housing is becoming more affordable.
Some creators in the network are paid by city agencies for individual campaigns, while others participate without compensation. Officials said unpaid influencers provide the additional benefit of appearing entirely independent.
The mayor’s office has declined to release a complete membership list, saying public disclosure could undermine the creators’ ability to deliver government messaging in their own authentic voices using identical daily talking points.
Critics questioned whether favorable content should be treated as evidence of effective government.
City officials rejected that distinction.
“If three million people watch a video announcing that a problem has been solved,” one adviser said, “the city no longer considers it productive to ask whether the problem remains.”
This is TOTAL BS. The news is real. The TOTAL BS is intentional.
For the real BS, read this — Columbia Journalism Review examines Mamdani’s network of friendly influencers.
