[Oakland, CA] — [11/3/25] — A new report from Equality Labs, Tracing Online Hate Against Zohran Mamdani, exposes the massive scale of hate, disinformation, and coordinated narrative attacks targeting mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani during the 2025 New York City Mayoral Race. From Mamdani’s primary victory in June 2025 through October 2025, Equality Labs manually monitored and analyzed 500 social media posts explicitly targeting Mamdani, while also conducting a yearlong, large-scale analysis of over 17.1 million online posts related to him. The study tracks the rise of Islamophobia, xenophobia, red-baiting/anti-working-class narratives, and anti–South Asian disinformation, providing a comprehensive picture to date of how hate campaigns are shaping political discourse in the U.S.
“This report shows how digital hate has evolved into a sophisticated ecosystem—blending xenophobia, Islamophobia, and red-baiting to undermine candidates of color and working-class movements,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Executive Director at Equality Labs. “Understanding these attacks is essential for safeguarding democracy and ensuring that communities can participate in politics without fear.”
Key Findings from the Manually Coded Dataset (500 Posts)
- 80% of all posts across platforms were Islamophobic, with 7% labelled him a
terrorist and 7% cautioned voters against Mamdani as a threat to imposing
Sharia Law in America. An additional 2% of posts labelled him as
anti-queer/trans/LGBTQIA+ because of his Muslim beliefs. - 25% of posts accused Mamdani of being an anti-semite and pro-Hamas.
- 23% of posts called Mamdani a communist intent on destroying America with his
“extremist leftist/socialist” ideology. - 5% of posts called for Mamdani to be deported or denaturalised, while 2.4%
were anti-immigrant. - 3.6% of posts featured disinformation about Mamdani’s parents and his wife.
- 9% of posts accused Mamdani of being either anti-Hindu and anti-India, with
10% of these posted by users of Indian origin.
Key Findings from the 17.1 Million–Post Dataset (2025)
- A combined total of 1.15 million Islamophobic posts with a total reach of over 152 billion and a combined total of 1.62 million red-baiting posts with a total reach of 330.2 billion.
Amplification by Political and Global Actors
- We identified over 45 Republican officials from over 18 states who, during this cycle, amplified Islamophobic, nativist, racist, and red-baiting narratives. This included governors, senators, representatives and other officials from New York, including leaders from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
- We also identified 26 international politicians, ambassadors, and other government officials outside the United States who circulated bigoted disinformation about him and the New York City mayoral race. These figures came from 14 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Israel, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
- Lastly, the disinformation aimed at Mamdani also targeted the community organizations supporting his campaign.
Impact on Democracy and Community Organizations
The report finds that disinformation targeting Mamdani also extended to community organizations supporting his campaign, exposing volunteers and grassroots groups engaged in constitutionally protected voter engagement to harassment, doxxing, and coordinated attacks. These efforts stunted participation, undermined election integrity, and corroded democratic engagement across New York City.
“The stakes of this research go far beyond one candidate,” added Thenmozhi Soundararajan. “Our findings show that Islamophobic, xenophobic, and red-baiting disinformation doesn’t just target candidates like Mamdani and his supporters—it threatens all voters and our multiracial democracy itself.”