San Jose Mayor’s Social Media use Faces Criticism
n February, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan launched two new social media accounts on X and Instagram, each one designated as a city-backed account for official messaging amid City Hall complaints about the mayor’s longstanding practice of using his individual social media accounts for both city business and to promote his own personal brand.
With Mahan's personal channels turning their focus to promoting his gubernatorial campaign, these complaints have increased
“If staff time was used to build or manage the account in an official capacity, the cleaner and more defensible standard would be to create an entirely separate campaign site,” Hurt told San José Spotlight. “That includes not carrying over followers that may have been accumulated through publicly funded work," says Davina Hurt, Ethics Center director of government ethics.
Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by San José Spotlight.