Disgraced former Lewiston City Councilor Iman Osman is tied to the AI-fueled Twin Cities Media website that posts pro-Somali op-eds, does not disclose its editors or owners, and pushes anti-ICE activism.
The Website
The “news” outlet markets itself as “an independent, fact-driven outlet delivering investigative journalism, daily news, and opinion for Maine’s working-class and immigrant communities.”
On the surface, Twin Cities Media’s website appears to be that of a legitimate news organization, featuring a carousel of headlines at the top of the page, along with headers promising news, politics, investigations, fact checks, and blogs.
Any attempt to engage with the website quickly dispels that veneer of legitimacy.
The “News” tab includes no original reporting whatsoever. Instead, it includes a list of headlines that simply link to reports from other state and local news outlets such as the Portland Press Herald, the New York Times, and CNN.
The “Politics” tab is similar, but also includes a tab on “Maine elected officials and races to watch” that includes Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine), and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), none of whom are running in the upcoming election.
That section lists the Lewiston Mayor as “TBD,” though Lewiston does currently have a mayor, Carl Sheline, and multiple candidates challenging his re-election bid.
[RELATED: Five Candidates Line Up to Challenge for Lewiston Mayor as Sheline Seeks Third Term…]
The “Investigations” tab includes what appear to be three original investigations, but they cannot be opened, and the headlines and subheadings appear to be the only parts of the investigations that actually exist.
The “investigations” are attributed to writers who, according to a report from the Portland Press Herald, do not exist.
Though The Maine Wire was unable to definitively confirm that the reporters named Carlos Mendez, Grace Whitfield, Maryam Hassan, and Daniel Okonkwo do not exist, we were able to uncover no evidence of people by those names working as reporters in Maine.
The majority of the website appears equally fake, featuring an AI-generated image of a woman in a hijab on its “About” page, along with the slogan “If we don’t report it, who will?” and just four one-sentence-long “fact checks.”
The fact-check page falsely marks the most recent one as being posted “today.” It is not clear how long it has actually been up, but the “today” label has been there since The Maine Wire began observing the site.
Twin Cities Media claims that it offers its reporting in English, Somali, French, and Portuguese. That claim is entirely false; its site is exclusively in English and the buttons meant to change it to different languages do nothing.
The only part of the site that appears to feature actual content is the “Blogs” tab, where readers can find an article attributed simply to “Twin Cities Media” that appears to be entirely AI-generated and that casts the infamous mosque on Bartlett Street in Lewiston as the victim of unprovoked harassment and threats.
The “Team” tab reveals a notice that the page is still under construction and provides no names of editors or reporters or other staff.
Avid readers are invited to pay for an $8/month subscription to access a variety of benefits and to support the unnamed operators of the site. The Maine Wire made an account in an attempt to confirm whether the subscription actually worked.
Currently, subscribing is free and appears to be a mechanism to test whether subscriptions will work in the future, and the site does not appear to have a way to accept funds.
The Facebook Page
The Twin Cities Media Facebook page, unlike the website, does post actual content, though it appears to be generated using AI.
One Friday post claimed that a drive-by incident shattered the window of the Global Halal Market and cast it as a potentially targeted attack against Somalis.
No other outlet reported on the incident, and The Maine Wire reached out to two law enforcement sources, neither of whom was able to corroborate the details in Twin Cities Media’s post.
In one post, they used an original graphic created by The Maine Wire without our permission. Another featured an image of Maine Wire reporter Jon Fetherston attached to an unrelated article about an officer-involved shooting in Calais of a man armed with a sword.
Though the outlet’s posts often attempt to maintain an image of non-partial independent coverage, they occasionally stray into more activist-type posts.
In one post on July 17, they re-posted a video from left-wing agitator Jolly Good Ginger and urged their readers to help him find an attorney to take legal action on behalf of the Bartlett Street mosque.
They also attempted to gather supporters for an anti-ICE protest and published an op-ed attributed to the unnamed members of their “editorial board” explicitly criticizing Fetherston and The Maine Wire.
Who Is Behind It?
Both the Twin Cities Media website and Facebook page are careful not to reveal who is actually behind the outlet.
The only names on the website are those of the seemingly non-existent reporters.
The Maine Wire reached out to the phone number listed on the website. Someone briefly answered but immediately hung up after we asked whether we had reached Twin Cities Media.
After ending the call, they reached out over text and confirmed that they were the outlet, but refused to say who was behind it and stopped responding to additional texts and calls.
The outlet’s Facebook page claims that it is owned by Middle Eastern, Black, and Indigenous people, but offers few other obvious hints.
Twin Cities Media does not exist as a legal entity in business records. Currently, the site lists the business’s address as PO Box 10 in Portland, but business records show that no business is using that as its registered address.
However, an earlier version of the website listed a different address, PO Box 342 in Lewiston. It is not clear exactly when or why that change was made.
The Lewiston PO box is also listed in business records as the head office address of the Lewiston-Auburn Youth Network, one of the nonprofits that took money meant to benefit the victims of the 2023 Lewiston shooting.
[RELATED: ‘Give the Money Back’: Lewiston Residents Demand Accountability in Shooting Fund Controversy…]
The Lewiston-Auburn Youth Network is operated by Iman Osman, who served on the Lewiston City Council for just three days before resigning amid a still-ongoing criminal case charging him with allegedly stealing a firearm.
A Maine Wire investigation into Osman also previously proved that he did not live in the district in which he ran for City Council.
The now-removed address is not the only thing linking Osman to Twin Cities Media.
Osman has used his personal Facebook page to repost multiple posts from the outlet’s page, and on one occasion simply posted a direct link to their page.
Osman’s links to the AI-generated outlet run even deeper.
After subscribing to the test subscription available on the website, The Maine Wire received an email from Twin Cities Media informing us that our subscription was active and telling us to reach out to “[email protected]” with any questions.
That email address belongs to Bantaa Language Express Services, which claims to offer translation services on its Facebook page.
The page has made no posts since changing its banner to a strange computer-generated image of a bald man in 2022, and its website no longer works, but the page lists “[email protected]” as its contact email address.
The page also places the business at 210 Blake Street, Lewiston, which is listed as the mailing address for the Lewiston Auburn Youth Network on business records. Though that nonprofit remains active, 210 Blake Street was condemned following a drug raid.
[RELATED: Lewiston Council Moves to Probe Osman Residency as Calls for Resignation Grow…]
Osman claimed to be living at that address even after it was condemned.
The Maine Wire reached out by phone to the number listed on Bantaa’s Facebook page and left a voicemail, asking about their ties to Twin Cities Media and Osman.
The number returned the call with a text, denying any knowledge of Twin Cities Media, and eventually claiming that their email address had been hacked. They did not explain why they would have left a hacked email address on their Facebook page.
Bantaa’s LinkedIn Page lists it as the owner of the Marham Store, also located at 201 Blake Street, according to business records, and as an employee at Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MIERS). Business records for the store do not reveal the name of its owner.
The final nugget of information came from Twin Cities Media’s Facebook page in response to a negative comment from user Bea Kay Matty, in which she accused them of being a propaganda site run by Osman and masquerading as news.
Twin Cities Media responded to the review by claiming that they are not owned, funded, or operated by anyone.
“The Twin Cities Media is not owned, funded, or operated by any individual or entity that includes KMC or Iman Osman. We operate as a completely independent news outlet,” they said.
The review made no mention of anyone with the initials “KMC,” raising questions about why the account would feel the need to deny that person’s involvement.
KMC appears to refer to Kiernan Majerus-Collins, who is running as a Democrat in Lewiston for the State House.
He has significant ties to Osman, and Osman has publicly campaigned on his behalf on his Facebook page.
