An investigation claims that Abdul El-Sayed’s Wikipedia page got edited during the campaign, deleting controversial issues.
Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed’s Wikipedia page was allegedly edited over several months to soften or remove references to controversies surrounding him ahead of the November 3 election, according to an investigation by researchers who tracked changes to the online encyclopedia. Two paragraphs, removed on October 12 and October 31, had referred to his appointment of a Jewish community liaison officer amid tensions over his criticism of the Israeli government, opposition to US military aid to Israel and remarks following the March 12 attack on Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield. El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers in the November 3 Michigan Senate election.
Rindsberg said the editor had been carrying out what appeared to be a systematic clean-up of El-Sayed’s Wikipedia profile in the run-up to the election. Investigative journalist Ashley Rindsberg, founder of the online campaign-influence tracker NPOV, and New York-based researcher Yehuda Teitelbaum separately examined the page’s revision history and highlighted the changes on X. During the election campaign, he faced criticism for referring to himself as a doctor. The researchers also flagged changes involving El-Sayed’s relationship with Michigan’s Jewish community. His victory makes him the first Muslim American elected to the US Senate