On September 4, 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office announced that it had removed the auto‑delete setting from its official Signal messaging channels. The change followed the discovery that a staff member had configured the encrypted app to automatically erase messages after they were sent.
The action was taken by a small group that included the mayor’s chief counsel, a City Hall communications staffer, and members of the mayor’s new‑media team. After learning that official communications could disappear without a record, the team acted immediately to disable the feature and restore standard message retention.
Signal, an end‑to‑end encrypted messaging platform, has been used by the mayor’s communications office for internal coordination and the exchange of policy‑related information. The practice was noted in a recent Columbia Journalism Review article that highlighted the city’s adoption of the app for secure communication among officials.
By halting the auto‑delete function, the mayor’s team aims to ensure that official exchanges remain accessible for accountability and archival purposes. The decision reflects a precautionary approach to managing digital correspondence within the city’s administration.
City officials did not provide further details about how long the auto‑delete setting had been active or the specific messages affected. The corrective steps taken on September 4 underscore the administration’s commitment to maintaining transparent and retrievable records of its internal communications.