Walmart Is Not Leading a Corporate Exodus from New York Over Mamdani
What happened: Satirical posts claiming that major companies are cutting ties with New York City in response to the Nov. 4, 2025, election of Democrat Zohran Mamdani as mayor have amassed millions of views, apparently by social media users who believe them.
Context: Mamdani, a democratic socialist who was elected mayor of New York City, faces deep skepticism from the city’s business community.
- Mamdani ran on a platform of raising corporate and income taxes on the city’s largest earners to fund ambitious social programs, including free buses and city-owned grocery stores, prompting some business interests to spend millions opposing his campaign.
A closer look: Shortly after Mamdani’s win, conservative accounts announced that his election scared major brands such as Walmart, which does not have stores in NYC, into shuttering operations and leaving. However, the claims cited by these social media users originated as satire, by a website whose aim is to troll conservatives.
- Right-wing X user @CaptKylePatriot posted an image of an 18-wheel truck, owned by Swift, another company falsely claimed to be leaving New York, with the caption: “The nation’s largest trucking company says it will no longer service New York City after Mamdani takes office: ‘We’ve instructed our dispatchers to reject loads to any of the Five Burroughs,’ said Company Spokesman Joe Barron, ‘We don’t see a way to continue doing business in the Big Apple.’” The post amassed 2.8 million views and 20,000 likes in one day. (Swift is part of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, the largest full truckload company in the U.S., according to Investopedia.)
- Pro-Trump Threads user @cubantrumpgirl posted a graphic reading, “Walmart will close its 23 ‘Neighborhood Markets’ in New York City.” The post contained an unattributed quote, “‘We’d have to double most of our prices to deal with the new Communist tax system Mamdani has planned.’ The post received 90,100 views and 1,100 likes in one day.
- Conspiracy-oriented X account @mcafeenew posted: “Legendary Sbarro SHUTS DOWN FOREVER … — Blame Mamdani’s INSANE PLAN to FORCE Food Giants to GIVE AWAY 22% of EVERYTHING for FREE!” The post about the national pizza chain garnered 20,500 views and 550 likes in one day.
Actually: These claims were all created by America’s Last Line of Defense (ALLOD), a self-described satire organization that aims to dupe conservatives into believing bogus claims.
- The claims were originally labeled as satire and published on the organization’s Facebook page, which states that it is a “network of trollery and propaganda for cash. Nothing on this page is real.”
- NewsGuard did not find any public statements or credible reporting signaling that any of these companies are altering operations due to Mamdani’s win. And, as noted, Walmart does not have any locations in New York City — not even the company’s smaller ‘‘Neighborhood Markets” stores.
Swift Transportation told NewsGuard in an emailed statement: “This post is not from Swift. It originated from a website known for political satire and has no affiliation with our company. The post references a ‘Company Spokesperson Joe Barron.’ Swift Transportation employs no individual by that name. We want to make it clear that Swift Transportation has no plans to alter our operations or business model in New York City.”
Walmart declined to provide an on-the-record comment to NewsGuard. NewsGuard sent an email to Sbarro but did not receive a response.
For tips on how to identify satirical posts from America’s Last Line of Defense, watch this episode of NewsGuard Academy.
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NewsGuard in the News: Undocumented Immigrants Are Not Feasting on Food Stamps
On Nov. 8, The New York Times published an article about false claims relating to the federal nutrition assistance program SNAP, also known as food stamps. The article cited NewsGuard’s debunk of the claim that 59 percent of all immigrants in the U.S. illegally are collecting food stamps, which was first advanced by Newsmax.
Read the article here.
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