US right-wing influencers have falsely linked New York’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to the Islamic State (ISIS), spreading a fabricated statement that has garnered millions of views across social media, researchers revealed on Thursday.
Mamdani, the first Muslim and South Asian elected to lead America’s largest city, won decisively this week despite a wave of attacks on his policies and religious background.
Anti-Mamdani accounts on X (formerly Twitter) circulated a fake statement supposedly from ISIS, titled “Operation Manhattan Project,” which threatened an attack in New York City on Election Day in retaliation for “American aggression.”
Among those amplifying the false claim was conservative influencer Laura Loomer, who has close ties to former President Donald Trump.
“The Muslims can’t think of a better way to celebrate the victory of a Muslim mayoral candidate today than by committing an ISIS attack in NYC,” Loomer wrote on X, drawing more than 200,000 views.
Several other conservative accounts shared the same image, falsely asserting that ISIS had endorsed Mamdani. Collectively, the posts were viewed millions of times.
However, researchers confirmed that the so-called communique was fake. Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard and academics from American University found that the post did not resemble legitimate ISIS statements.
“Amaq is used by the Islamic State to share news and claim responsibility for attacks,” said researcher Meili Criezis. “It doesn’t make threats like what is stated in the screenshot.”
The Information Epidemiology Lab, another research group, said the language, formatting, and tone of the document “sharply diverged” from established ISIS media practices.
Investigators traced the fake image to 4chan, a far-right message board known for conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns.
Mamdani, 34, has long been a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights and a critic of both antisemitism and Islamophobia. He has spoken publicly about the discrimination he faced following the September 11 attacks.
Despite repeated fact-checks debunking false claims about him — including rumors of illegal votes and staff ties to hate symbols — Mamdani’s historic win has made him a new target of online disinformation.
Researchers warn that the coordinated spread of fabricated extremist associations represents a growing trend of digital smear campaigns against minority politicians in the United States.
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