Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that New York City will allow its agencies to return to TikTok after reversing the earlier ban that the city imposed on city devices over security concerns. Speaking on the app, Mamdani posted, “TikTok, we’re back,” framing the change as an effort to keep the city’s information channels open as New Yorkers look for updates from government services.
In the memo that Mamdani’s office provided, NYC Cyber Command described the policy as a communications expansion, writing that “The Mamdani administration is committed to using every tool in our toolbox to communicate with New Yorkers.” It added that at a time when people turn to city government for information about “free services, emergency situations, upcoming events, and more,” the city wants “to open up new avenues of communication with the public and help deliver the information New Yorkers need.”
The security approach laid out by NYC Cyber Command centers on separating TikTok use from other city systems. Under the rules, agencies must dedicate separate devices solely for using TikTok, and those devices cannot contain sensitive data. The memo also says the TikTok-dedicated devices cannot be used for email or other internal systems.
The memo further requires that TikTok accounts be created using agency credentials rather than a person’s email, and it calls for departments to designate specific staffers who will handle TikTok use. NYC Cyber Command described the framework as a way to let agencies communicate through the platform while maintaining controls around access to city information.
The ban that Mamdani is reversing was put in place by his predecessor, Eric Adams, in 2023. The city’s restrictions joined a broader pattern in the United States, where the federal government and many state governments limited TikTok access to government-owned devices over concerns that the app’s parent company, ByteDance, could share data with the Chinese government.
The city’s decision also comes as TikTok has taken steps intended to address those concerns. TikTok had said the government worries were unfounded, and it later reached an agreement to spin off its U.S. operation, in a move described as aimed at alleviating concerns and avoiding a wider ban.
Mamdani, 34, has been prolific on social media both as a candidate and as mayor. After the earlier ban went into effect, the official TikTok account for the New York City mayor had been dormant, but it has since shown a small number of new posts.
One of the new videos features Mamdani calling residents about his “rental rip-off hearings,” where people can air complaints about living conditions in apartment buildings. Another post pairs Mamdani with Natasha Cloud of the WNBA’s New York Liberty as part of a bracket-style competition in which residents vote on having the mayor fix small local issues such as a broken basketball rim. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.