The New York Discussion

of the Movement for

Police Reform
Global Strategy Group and City & State NY partnered with Torch, a civic sector social intelligence
platform, to examine the online discussion among NY influencers and elected officials regarding the
Black Lives Matter movement and calls to defund the police.

The growth in the online discussion of the Black Lives Matter

movement in New York has been unprecedented.
Since the killing of George Floyd, there have been 1.7x as many posts about BLM compared to
coronavirus. However, the energy online has declined since the initial peak – with the pandemic
making a greater number of posts in recent days.

Social Media Discussion of BLM and Coronavirus in New York (May 27 – July 6)

■ Black Lives Matter ■ Coronavirus

1,162,508
0

May 27, 2020 July 6, 2020

Among New York politicians the posts that have recorded

the most engagement came from Democratic statewide and
federal elected officials.
While not the most frequent poster – Senator Schumer’s posts garnered the most likes.

NY Officials with Most Liked Twitter Posts on Black Lives Matter (May 27 – July 6)

Chuck
Schumer
Jumaane
Williams

Hakeem
Jeffries Barbara
Underwood
Lee Zeldin

22,006 18,127 7,424 6,313 5,879

Example posts

I will not stop working for
action. #BlackLivesMatter
9:43 PM • Jun 6, 2020
994 Retweets 6.1K Likes
I hear the Mayor/Governor
defending policing tactics and
curfews, saying we need to
protect property. Protecting
property we understand.
But where is the same
energy, the same urgency,
for protecting Black lives?
#BlackLivesMatter
#GeorgeFloydMemorial
4:55 PM • Jun 4, 2020
2.8K Retweets 8.2K Likes
Black Lives Matter paint on a
plaza: “Symbol of hate.”
Vladimir Putin puts a bounty
on the lives of American
soldiers: “Crickets.”
Hatred First.
America Last.
Is that the Trump doctrine?
9:51 AM • Jul 3, 2020
2.2K Retweets 7.4K Likes

New York officials have been more vocal in discussing calls to

“defund the police” than officials in any other state in the country.
There were almost 200 tweets from New York officials on the subject, almost double that of the next
closest state of Texas.

Discussions of calls to the “defund the police” among New York’s officials not surprisingly reached
a crescendo around the city budget.

Posts From NY Officials Discussing Calls to Defund The Police (May 27 – July 6)
NY Politicians discussing Defunding the Police (May 27 – June 6)
Including mentions of defunding the NYPD

40
NYC
Budget
30 Passed

20

10

May 26, 2020 July 6, 2020

Twitter Posts from All Officials Discussing Calls to Defund The Police (May 27 – July 6)

193
New York,
NY

The most frequent posters on the subject of defunding the

police among New York officials tended to come from the
progressive members of the New York City Council.
However, among the posts that drove the most likes were tweets from GOP officials, including Lee
Zeldin and Nicole Malliotakis, criticizing those calling for defunding.

Officials With Most Liked Tweets on Defund the Police (May 27 – July 6)

1
No...Independence Day is
not a “celebration of white
supremacy”, we should
not defund the police, and
George Washington’s statues
should not come down.

12:18 PM • Jul 5, 2020

6K Retweets 23.4K Likes

2 3
I will not vote for a budget Came to City Hall to thank the
that does not dramatically police protecting the radical
reduce funding for the leftists calling to defund them.
NYPD & instead use that Disgusting signs & graffiti, so
money to invest in youth won’t show them. Thanks
programs, culture, & libraries #NYPD for what you do!
& vital services that serve
communities of color. I hear
you and I stand with you.
#DefundNYPD

1:30 PM • Jun 3, 2020 7:38 PM • Jun 30, 2020

404 Retweets 2.3K Likes 865 Retweets 1.9K Likes

NY Officials Posting on Twitter Most Frequently on Defunding the Police (May 27 – July 6)

Carlos
Menchaca

Nicole
Malliotakis Helen
Rosenthal Jimmy
Van Bramer Ben Kallos

50 21 17 13 13
posts posts posts posts posts

Methodology: This analysis uses Torch to analyze Twitter posts of all politicians captured in the Google Civic Information API, which
captures thousands local, statewide, and federal officials across the country. For New York this included members of the State Assembly,
State Senate, City Council, County Legislatures, district attorneys, etc. Analysis of other social media included posts from Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Blogs, and Forums using the Infegy database.