India-based accounts allegedly paid to spread Michigan primary disinformation

Investigations suggest that paid social media accounts based primarily in India were used to spread interview videos supporting U.S. Representative Haley Stevens during the August Democratic primary in Michigan. The campaign aimed to influence the selection of the state's Democratic Senate candidate.

According to reports based on research from two disinformation organizations, more than 30 poll-style videos were distributed across platforms including X, Facebook, Threads, and Instagram, garnering millions of views. The operation allegedly used payments of between $1 and $5 per thousand views to encourage accounts to share the content, creating the illusion that the videos were appearing organically in users' feeds.

While the creators of the videos remain unknown, it is suspected that various political action committees may have been behind the effort to prevent Stevens from defeating her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed. In the August 5 primary, El-Sayed defeated Stevens to become the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Michigan.