US influencers mistakenly connect NYC Mayor-Elect Mamdani with the Islamic State group.
False claims linking NYC's new mayor to a terror group spread widely online, researchers confirm.
New York Mayor – (Special Correspondent / Web Desk) – Researchers stated on Thursday that US right-wing influencers fraudulently linked New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to the extremist Islamic State (IS) group, spreading a bogus statement that received millions of views on social media.
Mamdani, the first Muslim and South Asian chosen to head America’s largest city, won a convincing victory this week despite harsh attacks on his policy proposals and religious background.
A flurry of anti-Mamdani accounts on Elon Musk’s X platform published a message reportedly from IS titled “Operation Manhattan Project,” which alluded to an attack in New York City on Election Day against “American aggression.”
Among the influencers who linked the fake communique to Mamdani was Laura Loomer, a conservative influencer who has Trump’s ear.
“The Muslims can’t think of a better way for the Muslims to celebrate the victory of a Muslim mayoral candidate today than by committing an ISIS (Islamic State) attack in NYC,” Loomer wrote in a post on X that racked up more than 200,000 views.
Other conservative accounts cited the purported statement to falsely claim that the militant group had endorsed Mamdani as mayor.
The posts collectively amassed millions of views across the platform.
The purported letter, which displayed the logo of the IS-affiliated Amaq News Agency, was fabricated, according to multiple researchers including the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
Meili Criezis, an American University academic, told the watchdog that the supposed communique did not bear the hallmarks of other statements that emanated from Amaq.
“Amaq is used [by the IS] to share news and claim responsibility for attacks,” Criezis said. “It doesn’t make threats like what is stated in the screenshot.”
Another research group, the Information Epidemiology Lab, stated that the disseminated communication “sharply” deviated from standard IS “media practices in language, style, formatting, and distribution”.
The fake statement first surfaced on 4chan, a far-right message board known for conspiracy theories.
Mamdani, a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause, has recently spoken out against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which he experienced after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The 34-year-old state member, who campaigned on a promise to address rising living costs, has been repeatedly targeted by racist tropes and falsehoods.
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In the weeks leading up to the highly anticipated election, AFP’s fact-checkers debunked several false internet claims targeting Mamdani, including that a non-citizen illegally voted for him and that one of his campaign staffers posed beside graffiti of Nazi swastika.
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