Mamdani welcomes back TikTok. Will Long Island governments start using the social media giant again?

Zohran Mamdani last week rescinded the New York City government’s years-old internal ban on posting to TikTok, the short-form social media video app used by over 200 million Americans that helped lift him from obscurity to the mayoralty.

"TikTok," he posted Tuesday on the app. "We’re back."

American governments seem to be generally returning to TikTok in the aftermath of a deal to set up a new American entity to control a platform that had once been predominantly in Chinese hands, according to Holden Triplett, a consultant who once led the FBI’s offices in China and Russia and served as director for counterintelligence at the National Security Council at the White House.

"There’s a lot of people going back to TikTok after the solution, quote-unquote," said Triplett, who is skeptical that the new ownership arrangement does enough to protect users’ personal information from falling into the wrong hands.

But for Long Island governments — the hamlets, towns, counties, school districts, agencies and myriad other entities — TikTok isn’t roaring back, according to a decidedly unscientific sampling. There is a modest TikTok presence that never went anywhere, while for other government entities, the TikTok presence never existed.

Christopher Boyle, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, said by text, "I don’t think we have a ‘Nassau County Government’ tiktok. We have a Bruce one."

He didn’t reply to a follow-up text asking whether it was ever banned in the county.

On the account @bruceblakeman — "Make New York Affordable. Cut Utility Bills in Half. Fire Kathy Hochul," it says — there are dozens of videos of Blakeman: He inveighs against Columbia faculty and students; highlights a visit from FBI Director Kash Patel; features the Seaford High School national cheerleading champs, memorializes Charlie Kirk and more.

The earliest video is from August. It’s a mix of government-themed and campaign videos.

In Suffolk County, spokesman Mike Martino said the administration of County Executive Edward P. Romaine uses other social media apps.

"We use Facebook and Instagram actively," Martino said, adding: "TikTok is banned on the network."

That prohibition dates to the 2022 ransomware attack that crippled the county.

Caroline Smith, a spokeswoman for Islip, said TikTok is blocked for the town, which she said doesn’t post to it and doesn’t plan to.

Hempstead spokesman Brian Devine said that while the town posts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter), TikTok isn’t in use by the town.

"Never," he said.

He said: "We don’t post on TikTok as part of our social media outreach."

In New York City, Mamdani lifted a ban imposed by his predecessor, Eric Adams, following in the footsteps of the federal government and other states that limited the app on government-owned devices because of fears that TikTok’s owners, ByteDance, might share personal information with the Chinese government.

In the city, there are new rules agencies must follow to protect security. While TikTok dismissed concerns as being unfounded, the new ownership structure is intended to allay those concerns.

A memo from the NYC Cyber Command issued in concert with the ban being lifted spelled out how the government hoped to quench the public’s e-thirst for information about upcoming events, emergency situations, free services and more while still remaining secure. 

TikTok was key in driving Mamdani getting out the message for his insurgent campaign for mayor: he posted videos of himself, including one in a jacket and tie in which he ran into the freezing Atlantic Ocean to demonstrate how he would freeze the rent as mayor. His videos frequently went viral.