Rahil Prakash
ON THE RECORD · 13 verbatim quotes · every quote source-verified
“I wanted to see if fake polls could really penetrate the ecosystem that easily. And as it turned out, it could.”
Rahil Prakash · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-27
Prakash reportedly admitted to releasing fake polling results during the last election cycle.
“I hope it gives a really good lesson going forward in that we need to be very serious about these things and very serious in how, if one person can do this, what can a serious operation do in the future – a real, you know, operation for an organization, country, whatever.”
Rahil Prakash · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-27
While apologizing to campaigns for misleading them, Prakash appeared to remove himself from the problem of spreading lies in elections.
“I think my overall takeaway was that if you just make it look a bit pretty, it’s rather easy for it to spread.”
Rahil Prakash · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-27
Prakash explained to The Guardian how easy it was to spread fake polls through the media ecosystem.
“I was a bit shocked, perhaps at how fast this sort of information can spread.”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash reflected on the speed with which false polling information spread.
“I think my overall takeaway was that if you just make it look a bit pretty, it’s rather easy for it to spread,”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash described his takeaway from the experiment about how easily fake data can spread if presented well.
“And I hope it gives a really good lesson going forward in that we need to be very serious about these things and very serious in how, if one person can do this, what can a serious operation do in the future – a real, you know, operation for an organization, country, whatever.”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash warned about the potential for larger organizations or countries to exploit similar tactics.
“I wanted to see if fake polls could really penetrate the ecosystem that easily,”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash explained his motivation for creating the fake polling site in a phone interview with the Guardian.
“I did not expect the California political press to pick it up on their own.”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash said he did not anticipate California political press picking up the fake poll.
“I’ll apologize straight out to the campaigns of Karen Bass, Nithya Raman and Francesca Hong for this.”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash apologized to the campaigns affected by the fake polling data.
“This is what inspired me to test my theory,”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash explained that a polling miss in the Michigan Senate primary inspired his project.
“Did I expect it to perhaps expedite in the way it did? Most definitely not,”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash reacted to how quickly his fake polling spread in the media.
“And as it turned out, it could.”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash commented on how easily the fake polls spread.
“No, not at all.”
Rahil Prakash · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-20
Prakash denied trading on prediction markets after publishing the fake polling data.