In this political season, there is one question that needs no poll: Rahil Prakash is a liar. The other thing we know is that he will likely get away with spreading fake polling results. Lies can be protected speech under the First Amendment and, while Prakash would not likely want to take a popularity poll, he is unlikely to face legal consequences for his “short-term social experiment.”
We still do not know much about the twenty-one-year-old college graduate who reportedly admitted to releasing fake polling in the last election cycle.
What we do know is that he succeeded and such polls can influence critical campaign decisions. For example, his poll put the Democratic Socialist up by 20 points in Wisconsin and she surprised many by spending the final days campaigning in rural areas where she was expected to do worse. (She would lose by less than one percent of the vote). It is unclear where, had Hong known how close the race was, she would have spent the final days in higher-yield urban districts.
The story laid bare the vulnerability of modern polling, which was again wildly wrong in predictions in various races during the primaries. However, it also highlights a novel question of potential liability for knowingly spreading falsehoods. In this case, Prakash wanted the lie to spread and likely succeeded beyond his wildest imagination.
He told The Guardian that “I wanted to see if fake polls could really penetrate the ecosystem that easily. And as it turned out, it could.” He created a website called Median Strategies and released fake polls in Democrat primaries in the Wisconsin governor’s race, the Los Angeles mayoral race, and two statewide Nevada races. The polls were quickly picked up and spread throughout the “ecosystem.”
He explained to the Guardian how easy it was: “I think my overall takeaway was that if you just make it look a bit pretty, it’s rather easy for it to spread.”
We do not know if Prakash had a political motive in showing certain candidates dominating in certain races.
He reportedly denied using his fake polls to play betting sites as part of the prediction market. He also denied being compensated or directed by any campaign to run the hoax.
That matters because using lies for financial gain can be a form of fraud. However, just being a liar is protected.
In United States v. Alvarez, the Supreme Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act and held 6-3 that it is unconstitutional to criminalize lies.
The case shows the dividing line. Xavier Alvarez was protected in claiming to have won the Congressional Medal of Honor as well as marrying a Mexican movie star, playing for the Detroit Red Wings, and rescuing the ambassador in the Iranian hostage crisis. However, if he had used those claims to receive veteran benefits or donations, he could have been prosecuted.
Many of us in the free speech community supported that decision and still oppose censorship systems that target what governments decide is disinformation, misinformation, or malinformation. Anti-free speech figures have long justified censorship by declaring views as false or dangerous.
While apologizing to a few campaigns for misleading them, Prakash still seems perfectly clueless about the ethics and impact of lying in elections. Indeed, he seems to entirely remove himself from the problem of spreading lies: “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.”
Yeah, whatever.
The most revealing aspect of this controversy is not that some polling seems to lack any factual foundation for its predictions, but that some people lack any moral foundation for their actions. We have seen similar sites put out fake stories. Some do so for political ends, while others want to laugh at those gullible enough to trust them.
As with anonymous positions, the Internet gives people a certain license to say and do things that they would not do in their own name. Unlike Prakash, most are not exposed. They spread vicious, false stories and relish their sense of twisted power. While lacking the courage to speak in their own names (often in attacking those who have the courage to do so), they yield to their darkest or cruelest inclinations.
Prakash created a fake site to make it seem like this was not an anonymous, unreliable source. He found his chumps in the media who wanted to report the results without looking into the source. However, the “really good lesson” was missed by him: he was neither noble nor particularly clever, just another liar among the Internet’s sad voyeurs and vagabonds.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Well of course no one who goes by “annony” should ever be trusted. Annony’s have no credibility. Generally annony’s are useless. They have no purpose in life.
Rahil Prakash, NY Slimes, MSLSD, etc. etc. etc… and the MSM wonders why no one believes them?
Use the 90% rule and read what the above have to say… believe the exact opposite, and you will be with the truth nearly 100% of the time.
Notice how the Turley haters have to attack him personally, as they have no recourse to respond the facts of the matter… Just saying
Thou shall not lie.
It may not be illegal, but it is immoral.
One goal of this piece is to mitigate the YouGov poll showing that Trump is under water in all but 3 states—West Virginia, Idaho and Wyoming. MAGA media wants the disciples to disbelieve the reality of just how awful Trump is, how corrupt he has been and how much damage he has already done to our country.
Actually, that’s not even close to the point of the article. Way to troll though.
Summer polls have always shown Dems with big leads since the 1980s. Famously in 1988 Dukakis was leading HW Bush by 12 points. Yeah, that turned out to be really wrong. 2016? 2024?
Right now, the GOP is in line to maintain both the House and Senate. But anything can happen between now and November. Lots of time left.
re: LLMs (Large Language Models) and online political forums –
LLMs Among Us: Generative AI Participating in Digital Discourse
Social bots have been used to automatically generate messages, advocate ideas, and often manipulate discourse. With the advancements in AI and the rise of LLMs, the potential for harm is significantly elevated. As a way to investigate the capabilities of base LLMs as well as their dangers, we designed the experimental framework ”LLMs Among Us”by utilizing GPT-4, Llama 2 Chat, and Claude LLMs to develop 10 personas. We then recruited and surveyed 36 participants to interact with bots and other human participants on the experimental “LLMs Among Us” social media platform without them knowing the bot/human ratio.We found that participants correctly identified the true nature of participants in the experiment only 42% of the time despite knowing the presence of both bots and humans in the experimental setting. We also found that there is no signif-icant difference in the performance of the LLMs.
Radivojevic, K., Clark, N., & Brenner, P. (2024). LLMs Among Us: Generative AI Participating in Digital Discourse. Proceedings of the AAAI Symposium Series, 3(1), 209–218. doi.org/10.1609/aaaiss.v3i1.31202
Turley is a paid MAGA pundit. MAGA oligarchs knew Trump was stupid, toxic, a complete liar, a narcissist, misogynist, racist and xenophobe, but they love those tax cuts, rolling back of environmental and consumer protections, and, the latest scandal: dismantling of the database to track the true owners of shell corporations. Not only does Trump’s government refuse to enforce the law requiring disclosure of the true owners and main shareholders of shell corporations, they are intending to delete the information already collected. Trump and his oligarch cronies all benefit from shell corporations that hide the true ownership and backing of various business ventures and the laundering of money that they generate. Congress set up the reporting system because the US was the main locus for money laundering. Bear in mind that a US bank recently closed hundreds of Trump associated accounts because they bore the indicia of money laundering. MAGA media set up fake “journalists” and “news organizations” not only to push back against mainstream media that would honestly report Trump’s ignorance, incompetence and corruption, but to try to convince Americans that REAL journalists cannot be trusted.
Turley has the audacity to say: “…that some people lack any moral foundation for their actions.” That phrase accurately describes Donald J. Trump. I recently read a piece that summarizes Trump’s modus operandi: He creates a reality in his mind and then creates alternate facts that comport with his version of reality. His loss in 2020 is a prime example, but far from the only one. Up until his father lost the capacity to handle his finances due to dementia, Fred Trump, Donald’s Daddy, bailed him out of one financial mess after another, while Donald created this public image of a master deal-maker and fabulously wealthy real estate developer. All smoke and mirros. When Daddy wasn’t able to cover Donald’s financial losses any more, that’s when the bankruptcies started–6 of them, including two casinos that flopped. There were dozens of similar failed businesses, too. Right about that time, the reality show “The Apprentice” went on the air in which Trump kept up the facade of being a financial genius to entertain the gullibles. That’s exactly what he is doing right now.
So, what do we have? A chronic, habitual liar who is a convicted felon, who lost an election and tried to start an insurrection to prevent the rightful winner from taking office–to reward the insurrectionists, his corrupt AG entered into a “settlement” of a frivolous lawsuit to finance million dollar payouts to each and lifetime immunity from IRS audits and prosecutions for himself and his family. He orders his corrupt AG to go after his perceived enemies, and the AG complies–case after case keeps getting dismissed. He lied to get a second term by promising lower grocery costs, energy bills, lower housing costs and lower everything, including lower inflation. All of these things are higher, in part because of an unnecessary war Trump started based on a lie. Instead of doing anything to help Americans, Trump imposed illegal and unconstitutional tariffs, alienated our trading partners, and has engaged in what he most desires–to use our tax dollars to create a dishonest “legacy” to his self-perceived “greatness”–tearing down part of the White House to build a gilded ballroom, lying about the cost being covered by donations, constructing an arch to honor him, a draft dodger who put his name above that of a beloved assassinated former President who was a patron of the arts and war hero. He reported over $2 billion in “income” from cryptocurency, much of which was purchased by oligarch cronies who got out early, leaving non-insider investors with a loss. Now, Trump’s administration has approved allowing the crypto business a license to act as a bank.
Here are just a few examples of his self-anointing–putting his ugly, scowling, fat face on passports, re-naming Palm Beach International Airport after himself (never has been done for a living president), replacing treasurer’s signature on $100 bill with his, $ gold coin with his ugly, fat face, The “Trump Institute of Peace”, new battleship class being called the “Trump Class”, talk of removing the name of Doris Wilson, the first black seaman to receive the Navy Cross for his bravery at Pearl Harbor*, already under construction, and putting Trump’s name on the ship, Trump Gold Card (to replace “green card”), Trump accounts (using OUR tax money), Trump Rx….. .
But, Turley sees fit to write about some fake pollster while ignoring the growing corruption and arrogance of Donald J. Trump. Did I mention that, under Trump, the national debt is now over $40 Trillion–a new record?
*if you saw the film “Pearl Harbor”, Wilson was the sailor played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Wow! you learned to use ChatGPT! You get paid to troll, then use AI. That’s just lazy.
I was going to recommend you demand a raise to sound so silly, but after this AI word salad, you’re likely getting paid too much!
Liars and faking and drifting are S.O.P on the left. Look at Jason Arday. He gets made a full professor at Cambridge, is lauded by the smug, virtue signaling woke faculty, while the one who exposed his lies and plagiarism is ostracized. When Arday offs himself, he is mourned more than Einstein or Newton.
But Parkash actually performed a service of sorts, exposing the lies and scams of the left. While nothing happened to the wokist liar in ’24 who reported a completely fake poll showing a huge double digit surge for Harris against Trump in Iowa.
grifting not drifting.
Is Jason Arday the President of the United States? Is he even a politician? Did he lie to get into office by making fake promises without any capacity to deliver on them?
Most importantly, who, besides MAGA, says that Arday represents “the left”? He doesn’t.
Of course Arday represents the left. He was a professor of race and racial whining. Abd tes, he lied to get his job. Real whoppers that make Munchausen seem like Diogenes.
And you say America does not need severe restrictions on voting and comprehensive voter ID?
Perhaps we should require every voter to earn a BV—Bachelor of Voting: a credential certifying the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, genuine benefit from political gimmickry, and constitutional government from its clever usurpation.
Reminds me of the Sokal Affair: used Adobe AI to summarise:
Here are the key points from the document about the Sokal affair:
1. Alan Sokal’s Hoax Article (1996):
o Alan Sokal, a physics professor, authored a deliberately nonsensical paper titled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.”
o The paper argued that quantum gravity is a social and linguistic construct.
2. Publication in Social Text:
o The article was published in the “Science Wars” issue of the journal Social Text in spring/summer 1996.
o At the time, Social Text did not use academic peer review or consult outside physicists for review.
3. Revelation of the Hoax:
o On the day of publication, Sokal revealed in Lingua Franca that his article was a hoax, exposing weaknesses in academic standards and peer review in certain social sciences.
These points highlight Sokal’s critique of academic rigor and the peer review process in some areas of the social sciences.
Reminds me of Abel and Buck Henry’s 1950s-60s hoax SINA. Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, a fake society to clothe animals. Many in the media took it seriously and promoted the hoax group. Theirs was a comedy hoax stunt but the ones on the left including fake racist incidents like Smollett (because there are never enough genuine racist incidents so the left has to invent them) are much more sinister.
“Rahil Prakash is a liar.”
– Professor Turley
_____________________
The Constitution confers freedom of speech—and that freedom provides the remedy for speech alleged to be defamatory: The right to respond with speech of one’s own.
Government need not suppress one person’s speech to protect another’s when both possess the same freedom to speak.
Rahil Prakash may now present free speech that proves he is not lying; no defamation laws needed.
He said he said.
It goes to show–Do your own research. All media are political activists. Others want to get their name in the limelight. Would you know this college student if not for his lies/his stating that he lied? When he applies for a job, this will be out there for the potential employer to see–if that employer does his research. (I go back to the young woman who was hired for her dream job as editor of a teen fashion magazine, only to quickly lose that job because of a stupid teenage posting in social media that came back to haunt her as a young adult.
Our adversaries are learning from this!
Is that literally insane candidate Talarico really competitive in Texas?! Or are those fake polls as well?
So now we have realized that pollsters may purposefully report false and misleading poll results about election races where the candidates spew false and misleading positions during their campaign that ultimately, after they are elected, turn out to be lies. It’s hard to determine who are the useful idiots here, the politicians who believe in and use the results of these false polls while campaigning, members of the electorate that believe the candidates and the polling results, or both.
That term Stolen Valor just cracks me up how oxymoronic it is. To say I have absolutely no respect for anyone who joins the military is a grotesque understatement . I personally view these people as the lowest scum on the face of the Earth. I agree 1000% with the author of the Americanization of Emily who stated that the only Heroes in war are those who refuse to fight.
People who willingly join the military , people with such horrible judgment are the primary motivation for the USA’s perpetual war economy.
You are a complete and repulsive moron….
That’s the best you Perpetual War Monger scum have?
Edit : enablers should replace motivation.
I say again : if people would stop volunteering for military employment, perpetual United States war would come to a screeching halt. Why? Because Perpetual War would require and immediate and grotesque switch to conscription. The first lawsuit by any mail would then result with the imposition of a 50/50 conscription of women and men. There’s no way on God’s Earth that anyone could justify not conscripting women in equal numbers to men.
This is the reason that warmongering scum desire and must have a volunteer military. Anyone who thinks perpetual War would continue with conscription there’s no words to describe how naive and or stupid such belief is.
Every War fought every war the US has fought was to make bankers rich. War causes debt in debt cause bankers to loan money and to get rich. Please don’t waste your stupid breath arguing with me . Are you with Lieutenant colonel smedley Butler uSMC , rip. At the time Smedley was the all-time most decorated US Marine . He fought valiantly and was decorated for fighting valiantly in five Wars unlike every Sunday WHo disagrees with smelly and me on this subject. Later in life smedly proclaimed over and over and over again , he repented and proclaimed that everywhere he fought was only to make Bankers rich
That you admit having no respect for those who stand between us and destruction means that no decent person can respect you, or give you the time of day. You deserve to be left unprotected and enslaved by the first hostile who wants you, but unfortunately that’s impractical. Your local police, however, should refuse to protect you or your home, and should notify all the local gangs of this, and all the known burglars.
Con men are ever-resent in a free society
I presume you are referring to the entire Trump family.
No. The Obama and Biden families.
Odd post given Turley is a supporter of thr biggest liar in US political history.
Odd that Sally thinks anyone is a liar other than him/her/dem-self
Mr. Turley has never supported Obama or Biden, Sally.
Barack Obama? The only greater liar would be the serpent himself to Eve who then carried the lie to her friend, Adam? Here eat this fruit. It’s good. Oh yeah, now you die. It has an awful kick to it.
You mean that liar and the archetype?
Less worrying than being allowed to release fake polls is that they work. The fact that they work means that we need not worry about allowing them to be released. Of far more importance is that if voters are swayed by wanting to vote with the majority merely to be on the winning side, then democracy has failed. For democracy to succeed an informed electorate is required, and voting for the purpose of being on the winning side is most certainly not an informed electorate.
“but that some people lack any moral foundation for their actions”
I wouldn’t act in that fashion, but such an act by itself doesn’t mean a lack of moral foundation. In this type of case, intent matters. I think what he did might benefit the nation and stop people from relying on polls; instead, they are left to think. A poll can get any desired result, and one can even use it to push ideas rather than gather information.
Has the DNC hired him yet in an attempt to lure male voters? 😂😂😂
You mean like “I eat carburetors for breakfast” and supports Kamala? 🤣