New York Metropolis mayor Zohran Mamdani, who rode a social media-fueled marketing campaign to Gracie Mansion, is reversing an Eric Adams–period directive barring TikTok from government-owned units. Native companies will now be capable of publish about their tasks on the app, although with new guardrails to guard metropolis networks.
“The Mamdani administration is dedicated to utilizing each device in our toolbox to speak with New Yorkers,” says the e-mail to companies, obtained by WIRED. “At a second when persons are turning to metropolis authorities for details about free companies, emergency conditions, upcoming occasions, and extra, we need to open up new avenues of communication with the general public and assist ship the data New Yorkers want.”
In August 2023, then-mayor Adams barred using TikTok on authorities units, becoming a member of the ranks of different state and federal companies that on the time deemed the app a serious safety threat. Adams spokesperson Jonah Allon mentioned then that town’s Cyber Command workplace had determined that TikTok, which was owned by the Chinese language-based firm ByteDance, “posed a safety risk to town’s technical networks and directed its removing from city-owned units.”
The directive resulted in a variety of fashionable city-run accounts shutting down, together with accounts for the NYC Departments of Sanitation and Parks and Recreation. As of Tuesday morning, the accounts’ bios learn, “This account was operated by NYC till August 2023. It’s not monitored.”
Now, these TikTok accounts shall be allowed to reopen with a number of new guidelines geared toward defending the safety of NYC’s networks and units whereas permitting companies to speak with residents on the favored app. As a way to use TikTok, companies shall be required to make use of separate, government-issued units for the app that “can’t comprise delicate or restricted information, and so they can’t be used for e-mail, inner methods, or privileged entry,” in keeping with the e-mail to companies. Companies will designate particular workers from media and press places of work to run the TikTok accounts with metropolis authorities emails, not private ones.
“In a fragmented media panorama, an increasing number of individuals—particularly youthful individuals—are wanting past the 4 corners of their tv display to remain knowledgeable,” Mamdani mentioned in an announcement to WIRED. “Our accountability is easy: Meet individuals the place they’re. Meaning stepping exterior our consolation zones and speaking in ways in which mirror how New Yorkers truly stay, work, and join.”
Mamdani’s rule reversal comes after his November election that relied closely on social media to conduct voter outreach. Mamdani leveraged TikTok to recruit volunteers and amplify his coverage platform. Over his first few months in workplace, Mamdani has continued to leverage social media platforms, publishing quite a lot of public-service bulletins associated to city-run packages.
Forward of harmful winter climate in January, Mamdani printed a video to the official @nycmayor account on Instagram asking New Yorkers to join town’s free emergency communications program, NotifyNYC. This system netted greater than 32,000 new subscribers within the 4 days after the video was launched, in keeping with stats supplied by Mamdani’s workplace. Final yr, New York Metropolis Emergency Administration ran a $240,000 promoting spherical for NotifyNYC, buying round 48,000 new subscribers. Mamdani additionally created a handful of movies asking New Yorkers to hitch a Division of Sanitation snow-shoveling program. Round 5,000 individuals signed up, tripling the quantity beforehand enrolled in this system.
The state of affairs has additionally modified for the app. In January 2026, TikTok finalized a cope with the Trump administration to kind a brand new US-based model of the corporate run by American buyers, together with Oracle. The consortium of American buyers staved off a nationwide ban of the app.
