Median Strategies fake election polls revealed as social experiment

A 21-year-old college graduate, Rahil Prakash, has been identified as the individual behind Median Strategies, a website that released fabricated election polls in Wisconsin, Nevada, and California. The entity abruptly shut down its operations after facing scrutiny, describing the activity as a “short-term social experiment” intended to test how easily fake polling data could penetrate the political information ecosystem without independent verification.

The fraudulent data had significant reach; for instance, fake polls suggested Francesca Hong held a double-digit lead in the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass cited the data after it appeared to show her leading her challenger. The fake polls also included data regarding Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo.

Dr. Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, characterized the incident as “pure and simple fraud” committed against the American public. While the fabricated polls were exposed relatively quickly, the event has raised concerns regarding the vulnerability of the political landscape to misinformation and the influence of unverified polling data.