Three years after New York City became one of dozens of U.S. jurisdictions to ban TikTok from all official government devices over national security concerns, the city’s new administration has reversed the policy, allowing municipal agencies to return to the popular short-form social media platform under strict cybersecurity safeguards.
The policy shift was announced Tuesday by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-made political star whose own rapid rise to power was fueled in large part by viral TikTok content. Taking to the platform himself, Mamdani made the announcement directly to users with a simple message: “TikTok, we’re back.”
The original 2023 ban was enacted by Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, amid a nationwide wave of restrictions on the app. At the time, the federal government and a majority of U.S. states had moved to block TikTok from government-issued devices, over persistent unsubstantiated claims that the platform’s China-based parent company ByteDance could share user data with the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly denied these allegations, and in the years since the ban was put in place, the company reached a framework agreement to spin off its U.S. operations in a bid to ease regulatory pressure and avoid a full national ban of the service.
According to a confidential memo from city cybersecurity officials shared by the mayor’s office, the decision to lift the ban centers on expanding the city government’s ability to reach residents where they already spend time. NYC Cyber Command, the municipal agency tasked with defending city government systems from cyber threats, framed the reversal as a commitment to accessible public communication in its Tuesday memo.
“The Mamdani administration is committed to using every tool in our toolbox to communicate with New Yorkers,” the memo read. “At a moment when people are turning to city government for information about free services, emergency situations, upcoming events, and more, we want to open up new avenues of communication with the public and help deliver the information New Yorkers need.”
To address ongoing security concerns, the city has put in place a strict set of protocols for all official municipal TikTok activity. Under the new rules, agencies must use dedicated, separate devices exclusively for TikTok management; these devices are prohibited from storing any sensitive city data, connecting to internal government email systems, or accessing other municipal internal networks. All official TikTok accounts must be registered using official agency credentials rather than personal staff emails, and each department must explicitly designate a limited number of authorized personnel to manage official accounts.
TikTok did not immediately issue a statement or respond to requests for comment on the policy change.
Mamdani, 34, built his political brand as a prolific social media creator long before taking office as mayor. As a candidate, his sharp, issue-focused videos regularly went viral across TikTok, turning him into a household name among younger New York voters and accelerating his path to City Hall. Since the ban was lifted, the official @nycmayor TikTok account — which had remained dormant since 2023 — has already begun posting new content.
Early posts from the reactivated account include a video where Mamdani invites city residents to attend his administration’s “rental rip-off hearings,” where tenants can report complaints about dangerous and unlivable conditions in their apartment buildings. Another post features Mamdani alongside WNBA New York Liberty star Natasha Cloud announcing a public competition: New Yorkers can vote for the small local municipal issue they want the mayor to prioritize, from fixing a broken neighborhood basketball rim to repairing cracked sidewalks, with the winning project fast-tracked for repair.
