A former Google policy advisor who is facing off with political heavyweights, such as Supervisor Joe Simitian and former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, for the Congressional seat Representative Anna Eshoo is exiting, says he’s appalled to have been confused with a convicted Mountain View rapist, due to a misspelling of his name in a poll.
The candidate, Ahmed Mostafa, found this particularly galling, considering he founded the Survivors’ Pro Bono Clinic at Stanford.
“As a candidate for California’s 16th Congressional District, I firmly believe that I have a responsibility to call out instances of racism and misinformation when they occur,” he said in a Dec. 23 release. “Recently, I was informed that a poll sent to voters included a misspelling of both my first and last name that led voters to believe I was another local man, who was previously convicted of multiple offenses including torture and sexual abuse. As someone who has spent nearly their entire career as an attorney advocating for the rights and dignity of survivors of sexual violence and fighting against misinformation, this error is a blatant misrepresentation of my values and character.”
The voter was sent a text message claiming to be from market research firm Dynata, stating the company was gathering data “on issues important to San Jose.” A link led to a surveynetwork.com poll, which contained the incorrect candidate information.
Dynata did not respond to a request for comment about the situation.
The criminal, Ahmad Moustafa, was sentenced to a life behind bars after being found guilty in 2017 of torture, forced sexual penetration with a foreign object, trafficking, criminal threats, and corporal injury, according to the Daily Mail.
One of the man’s victims went on to work for the Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit of the Alameda County DA’s Office.
Mostafa—the candidate—worked on a social networking platform for Muslims that was acquired by Minder Apps, Inc.—“Salams: Where Muslims Meet” dating app on Google Play and the Apple Store.
He told the Los Gatan about how they built a screenshotting feature to allow women to maintain a more truthful picture of men they interact with.
After clerking with the Santa Clara County Public Defender Office, Mostafa joined Google to work on policy, five years ago.
Over time he says his role shifted so he was less focused on implementing changes and more focused on writing the rules.
“I crafted many of Google’s policies and worked with an entire team of folks,” he said, adding his last day at the company was Dec. 4.
He says he was involved with launching an artificial intelligence disclosure policy for elections, reducing human trafficking on the platform and figuring out how to curb misinformation about climate change.
“How do we do it efficiently?” he said they would ask themselves. “How do we do it fairly?”
Mostafa says some voters have asked if the misspelling was part of a malicious effort to discredit him.
“I really hope that this wasn’t on purpose,” he said. “It’s my reputation.”
