Website behind widely shared fake election polls run by 21-year-old
Exclusive: Rahil Prakash tells the Guardian: ‘I wanted to see if fake polls could penetrate the ecosystem that easily’
TL;DR
- A 21-year-old named Rahil Prakash operated an anonymous website, Median Strategies, which published fake election polls.
- The website aimed to test how easily fabricated polling data could spread within the political information ecosystem.
- Median Strategies' polls were shared by media outlets and cited by political figures, despite lacking verification.
- Prakash cited a previous polling miss in the Michigan Senate primary as inspiration for his project.
- The American Association of Political Consultants condemned the actions as a deception directed at voters and the press.