A recent report by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH) has unveiled a concerning surge in Islamophobic and xenophobic discourse targeting New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani. The study, spanning from Mamdani’s Democratic primary victory in June to the end of October, revealed that such content reached an estimated 1.5 billion users on X (formerly Twitter). This spike in hateful rhetoric coincided with the narrowing gap between Mamdani and his chief opponent, Andrew Cuomo, in the mayoral race. The analysis identified 35,522 original posts from 17,752 unique accounts, with 45% authored by verified users, raising questions about the platform’s moderation practices. The report highlights four dominant Islamophobic narratives: terrorist labeling (72% of posts), calls for deportation and citizenship revocation (11%), questioning loyalty to the country (9%), and conspiracy theories about Sharia law and Muslim takeover (8%). CSOH warns that such online hate could escalate into offline violence, citing recent acts of political violence in the U.S. The organization has urged X to enforce stricter moderation, enhance transparency for verified users, and amplify corrective counterarguments in its algorithm to combat misinformation and hate speech.
Anti-Muslim posts on X about Zohran Mamdani have increased by more than 450 percent
