San Jose mayor's social media use faces criticism
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announces his candidacy for governor. Jan. 29, 2026
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Just weeks after announcing his run for governor, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan launched two new social media accounts on X and Instagram, each designated as a city-backed account for official messaging.
The move in February came amid City Hall grumbles about the mayor's longstanding practice of using individual social media accounts for both city business and to promote his own personal brand.
Such complaints have grown louder in recent weeks, as Mahan's personal channels have turned their focus more and more toward promoting his gubernatorial campaign.
Mayor's Office officials contend the new city-backed accounts have helped clarify the lines of official communication, but critics aren't satisfied. They maintain years of mixed messaging have undermined the guardrails that typically separate government business from campaign activity — and in the process, potentially violated election laws.
Two City Hall staffers — who do not work for the mayor and asked not to be named for fear of retaliation — allege that over the years Mahan has assigned employees in his office to work on his private social media accounts. But even as the accounts have functioned as quasi-official platforms, Mahan has used them to advance his political goals, including the promotion of his policy agenda to a statewide audience.
The staffers provided no indication the employees contributed directly to any campaign-related posts. Still, they argue the use of city resources to support any personal social media account is inappropriate, especially given the accounts are now being used for campaign purposes.
"The public is paying for the development and manicuring of this private channel of communication," one of the staffers told San Jose Spotlight. "(Mahan) is running a 'Back to Basics' campaign, and the campaign should be paying attention to the basics of campaign finance law."
Seamus Gann, spokesperson for Mahan's office, said the mayor's social media practices have remained well within legal bounds.
"Consistent with state law and guidance from the City Attorney's Office, elected officials are permitted to share both personal and official updates on personal social media accounts," Gann told San Jose Spotlight.
Gann did not address questions about the claims concerning city staff time.
Mahan's personal X and Instagram accounts, both of which have roughly 20,000 followers, often turn out multiple posts a day. Those posts run the gamut from updates on city policies, to responses to high-profile crimes, to polished videos of Mahan lending a hand at city trash cleanup events.
More recently, the channels have been featuring posts promoting Mahan's "Back to Basics" policy agenda, focused on improving quality-of-life issues like affordability and public safety. Following his Jan. 29 gubernatorial announcement, the channel has become a regular platform for explicit campaign messages.
San Jose Mayor Mahan enters California governor's race | Take 2 Tonight
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has entered the California governor's race. The anchors say this was long rumored and talk about how this affects the race as we know it. Mike Mibach previews the 10 o'clock News.
Days after the announcement, the San Jose Office of Employee Relations issued an advisory to city employees Feb. 4 reminding them of legal restrictions on the use of city resources for political campaigns. Mahan launched his city-backed Instagram and X accounts days later. He also launched separate campaign accounts around the same time.
The timing of the advisory letter, so soon after the launch of the mayor's election bid, raised eyebrows in City Hall. However, a spokesperson for the City Manager's Office told San Jose Spotlight such policy reminders are standard practice during election years.
Mahan's critics argue that even now that he has launched city-backed X and Instagram accounts, San Jose has still come out behind in the bargain. While Mahan's campaign will reap the rewards of the impressive follower count his personal channels have built, the city accounts are starting from scratch.
Given such campaign benefits, Mahan's critics argue the alleged use of staff time could amount to a violation of California laws prohibiting the use of city resources for election purposes.
However, after reviewing the accusations of wrongdoing, Caitlin Robinett Jachimowicz — an election law expert who serves as an administrator at Santa Clara University School of Law — voiced skepticism that any legal violation has taken place. She noted that laws governing social media use by elected officials are still evolving, and none obviously apply to this situation.
"Unless (staff members) are posting about the campaign, you would have to determine that the account itself is city property," Jachimowicz told San Jose Spotlight. "Even though his followers grew during this time, I think that's a stretch."
This is not the first election cycle where the mayor's social media practices have drawn scrutiny. During his 2021 campaign for mayor, San Jose Spotlight reported Mahan used his Facebook account to promote both city and campaign-related content.
Since then, city rules governing social media use for elected officials have undergone a major overhaul following a 2023 controversy. After losing her reelection bid, former District 7 Councilmember Maya Esparza refused to turn her office's social media accounts over to her successor, Councilmember Bien Doan.
The new policy, enacted at the start of this year, mandates that all city business communications must originate from a city-backed account.
Meanwhile, separate rules prohibit posting links to campaign-related materials on city-backed websites or social media accounts. As of Monday, the website for the mayor's office — which is not hosted on the San Jose government website — includes links to social media accounts, including Mahan's personal X and Instagram, that feature numerous campaign-related posts.
Davina Hurt, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, said Mahan's decision to launch government-backed accounts is a positive step. However, she argued San Jose still must fully account for the public resources that may have gone into any social media accounts used in the campaign.
"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 Jose Spotlight. "That includes not carrying over followers that may have been accumulated through publicly funded work."