Overview
- Median Strategies published fabricated polls in mid‑August that showed surprising leads in races in California, Wisconsin and Nevada and then retracted the results on August 17, calling the project a “short‑term social experiment.”
- Friday reporting identified 21‑year‑old Rahil Prakash as the sole operator who built the site with AI, acknowledged creating the fake polls, apologized to affected campaigns, and denied receiving money or trading on prediction markets.
- The bogus Los Angeles mayoral poll was picked up by multiple outlets and was promoted in a now‑deleted post by Mayor Karen Bass’s campaign, illustrating how quickly unverified surveys can enter news coverage.
- The Associated Press tracked thousands of rapid trades on Polymarket and a small price uptick on Kalshi after the poll circulated, which analysts say shows how fake polling could be used to move prediction‑market prices.
- Journalists, pollsters and industry groups warned this episode exposes weak verification practices and could trigger investigations or rule changes to protect newsrooms, campaigns and betting markets.