Shiva Ayyadurai
V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai (born Vellayappa Ayyadurai Shiva, December 2, 1963) is an Indian-American engineer, politician, entrepreneur, and promoter of conspiracy theories, pseudoscience and unfounded medical claims.Ayyadurai holds four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including a Ph.D. in biological engineering, and is a Fulbright grant recipient.
In a 2011 article published by Time, Ayyadurai claimed he invented email as a teenager in the late 1970s. Historians strongly dispute this account however because email was already in use in the early 1970s. Ayyadurai has rejected this narrative and won damages from Gawker Media for making defamatory statements, but a similar dispute with Techdirt was settled out of court with no money changing hands.
Ayyadurai also attracted attention for two reports: the first questioning the working conditions of India's largest scientific agency; the second questioning the safety of genetically modified soybeans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ayyadurai became known for a social media disinformation campaign about the coronavirus; spreading conspiracy theories about the cause of coronavirus; promoting unfounded COVID-19 treatments; and campaigning to fire Anthony Fauci for allegedly being a so-called "deep state" actor.
He garnered 3.39% of the vote as an independent candidate in the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, and ran as a Republican in the 2020 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, but lost to Kevin O'Connor in the primary.
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