US right-wing influencers spread false ISIS link to New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani
Right-wing influencers in the United States have falsely linked New York’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, to the Islamic State (IS) group, amplifying a fabricated statement that gained millions of views on social media, researchers revealed on Thursday.
Mamdani the first Muslim and South Asian elected to lead New York City won a decisive victory this week despite sustained online attacks on his policies and religion.
The misinformation stemmed from a fake IS statement titled “Operation Manhattan Project,” which appeared to threaten an Election Day attack in New York. The forged communique was widely circulated on X (formerly Twitter) by anti-Mamdani accounts, including conservative influencer Laura Loomer, who wrote that Muslims were celebrating Mamdani’s victory with an ISIS attack. Her post alone drew over 200,000 views.
Several other right-wing accounts also shared the fake message, falsely claiming the extremist group endorsed Mamdani. Collectively, the posts garnered millions of views across the platform.
However, disinformation researchers have confirmed that the purported IS statement was fabricated. According to NewsGuard, a leading misinformation watchdog, the document lacked the linguistic and stylistic characteristics of genuine Islamic State communications.
Meili Criezis, an academic at American University, explained that IS’s Amaq News Agency whose logo appeared on the fake message is typically used to claim responsibility for attacks, not to issue political endorsements. Similarly, the Information Epidemiology Lab found the document diverged “sharply” from IS’s known media practices in “language, style, formatting, and distribution.”
Investigators traced the fake statement to 4chan, a far-right message board notorious for conspiracy theories and misinformation.
In recent months, Mamdani a 34-year-old state lawmaker and outspoken advocate for affordable living has been repeatedly targeted by racist and Islamophobic narratives online. A vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, he has also condemned antisemitism and reflected on his own experiences with discrimination after the September 11 attacks.
AFP fact-checkers previously debunked several false claims against Mamdani during his campaign, including fabricated stories about illegal voting and campaign staff misconduct.
