From Vibes to Votes
Social media influencers are transforming political persuasion faster than regulators can keep up.
This article is brought to you by American Purpose, the magazine and community founded by Francis Fukuyama in 2020, which is now proudly part of the Persuasion family.
As the 2024 election cycle enters the home stretch, a new political power player has emerged: social media influencers. Although they’re often associated with makeup tutorials, dance challenges, and hot takes, digital creators have stepped onto the political stage as a significant force—swaying public opinion, mobilizing voters, and even shaping the political agenda. With millions of followers and unparalleled relatability, influencers were a prominent presence at both parties’ political conventions, where they served as both media and attraction: they interviewed candidates, crafted the memes that set the tone, but also spoke directly to audiences, offering a glimpse into younger generations and extremely-online culture. Content creators bring a fresh voice to the table—and they also bring the power to make information go viral.
Yet, as they enter the political arena, the rules for disclosing paid political relationships remain murky. The agencies tasked with ensuring transparency and fairness in U.S. election communications are struggling to navigate this new landscape—especially when it comes to ethics and disclosure.
Influencers on the main stage
Influencers are social media content creators with large, loyal followings. The term originated 20 years ago in brand marketing: influencers (originally “influentials”) had what marketing analysts called “The 3 R’s”: reach, relevance, and resonance. Reach measured follower count, while relevance referenced the appeal of their content to a specific audience. The relevance was not necessarily broad: “mom influencers” made content that appealed to fellow moms, while passionate gamers followed gaming influencers. However, for persuasion purposes that was seen as a good thing: social platform design incentivized creators to target a niche, which meant that influencers prioritized making content that resonated with a clearly-defined audience. They were distinct from the media, and often seen as members of the very community that they were speaking to. Their charisma and skill as storytellers, and their deep understanding of community memes, lingo, and lore, meant that their posts connected emotionally with their audience. This drove engagement… and, brands hoped, inspired people to try the products that influencers were increasingly paid to promote.
As otherwise ordinary people suddenly became product pitchmen, the line between organic content and paid promotion blurred. To protect consumers, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) introduced guidelines in 2009 known as the “mommy blogger” rules, requiring transparency in influencer marketing in online and social media spaces. Influencers who received free or discounted products, or were paid to promote them, had to include clear, conspicuous disclosures. These could be adapted to fit the medium—like using “#sponsored” or “#ad” on a post with a limited character count—but they had to be visible and obvious, not buried at the bottom of a page.
As it turns out, the talents that make influencers effective at selling shoes are also useful in shaping political opinions. From a purely mechanical standpoint, influencers have a deeply-informed understanding of what social media platform algorithms are looking for, and how to get their content algorithmically amplified. They understand how to produce content for human audiences and machine curators alike.
However, their influence goes deeper than knowing how to work the algorithms. Influencers build sustained online communities where people connect deeply, and where values and beliefs take shape. Many of the “mommy bloggers,” for example, initially became popular for practical tips on making cute lunches—but they also talked about political issues important to the parent community, like education policy or childhood health concerns. Their engaged followings made them attractive to candidates eager to connect with niche communities.
Influencers are experts at tailoring their commentary to audiences that often feel underrepresented in mass media. The 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) invited influencers to create content, but also featured them as representative voices in convention programming. Olivia Julianna, a 21-year-old influencer with over a million followers who regularly posts about topics such as reproductive rights, was one of those featured. Julianna, who identifies as a “queer, plus-sized, disabled Latina,” uses her unique identity to differentiate her content. In her speech, she urged young people to vote, noting that this would be her first time casting a ballot in a presidential election. Meanwhile, at the Republican National Convention, the Cartier Family—four college roommates—brought a Gen Z perspective to conservative issues.
Polling continuously shows that trust in media and institutions has declined. Audiences are increasingly getting their news on social media, from influencers and niche outlets rather than mass media. Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to consume political content through social media than traditional news outlets. A Pew Research study found that many adults under 30 get their news primarily from TikTok, while audiences who spend time on right-leaning platforms like Truth Social or Rumble regularly get news there. Many people feel disconnected from news; influencers offer a refreshing and more entertaining way to follow the issues they care about. And, as we’ve seen in 2024’s political conventions and rallies, influencers attracted huge viewership with their real-time updates, behind-the-scenes content, and personal insights connecting politics to everyday life.
Although institutional and media elites are sometimes dismissive of online culture and trends, the power of influencers comes from their cultural fluency, which gives them the language and credibility to galvanize their fans. Shrewd politicians amplify influencer content to signal alignment with their audiences. Donald Trump has long had deep ties to right-wing influencers; they make flattering memes portraying him as a warrior hero, he reposts them, and right-wing media covers the interactions. During the 2020 election, influencers were instrumental in amplifying rumors of voter fraud and galvanizing “Stop The Steal” energy. The mantra “We are the media now,” originally popularized by QAnon in 2020 but now widely adopted among the broader online right, reflects this blurring of lines between media, creators, and influencers. Political discourse, online and off, is heavily framed by vibes and memes which rise from social media to political elites to national news coverage.
Influencers as political actors: What are the rules?
This blurring, which has happened across the political spectrum, raises an important question: is political influencer activity truly organic, independent, and authentic? When influencers excitedly cover political conventions from the inside, it’s sometimes made clear that they’ve been invited by a party or campaign—though such transparency is becoming the exception rather than the norm.
Significant money is changing hands. In July 2022, Wired ran an exposé on a political influencer agency, Urban Legend, which matched political influencers with issue advocacy campaigns. Influencers like Diamond and Silk, Donald Trump Jr., comedian Walter Masterson, and climate advocate Zahra Biabani received compensation for promoting petitions and directing their followers to get involved in campaigns. The financial element was invisible to the audiences.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) spending disclosures show that campaigns and SuperPACs across the political spectrum are spending millions on influencer-linked marketing. The Biden campaign disclosed a $1.9 million April 2024 payment to the Village Marketing Agency, a “performance-driven influencer shop, fueled by creativity and powered by relationships.” It boasts two presidents on its client roster, and “500,000+ social posts executed.” “Harris for President” paid progressive creator agency Good Influence around $150,000 in July of 2024. Trump’s 2020 campaign used another Urban Legend affiliate, Legendary Campaigns. While there haven’t been any obvious disbursements from the campaign this cycle, right-leaning organization Turning Point USA has invested millions in cultivating influencers to tout conservative issues. Even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to have been in on the game: FEC disclosures show “Team Kennedy” paying Dysrupt LLC approximately $400,000 for “social media consulting,” Total Virality LLC $8000 for “influencer engagement,” and the pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 PAC paying approximately $150,000 to influencer management company Creator and Company. But this degree of information is where the visibility ends—the specific influencers receiving this money remain opaque.
And yet, even as the FTC has updated its guidelines several times since the first “mommy blogger” rules of the 2010s, including in 2023, the FEC has failed to come to an agreement on whether or not to impose rules on paid political speech from influencers, with some commissioners citing concerns over the First Amendment. This is a sharp contrast to the FEC’s own rules in other mediums: campaign ads on television, radio, print, or standard websites must include a paid-for-by disclaimer and disclose that expenditure to the FEC.
This regulatory gap enables potential manipulation, allowing compensated political messages to spread without audiences understanding the financial incentives behind them. The ethical implications are significant: undisclosed paid endorsements can undermine the integrity of the electoral process and erode public trust. It is striking that regulatory agencies work to ensure transparency around whether an influencer is being paid to promote soap, but not whether their testimonial about a political candidate is similarly incentivized.
Voters want transparency
Influencers aren’t simply passionate political fans—this is also a job. They grow their followings to monetize them, often earning substantial sums. That doesn’t mean that they don’t sincerely believe in the causes or candidates they’re promoting—but sincerity of belief has never been a justification for exempting disclosure in other areas. Transparency is the ethical choice, and voters want to see more. In recent polls by the Rainey Center/Anchor Change and Tech Policy Press/YouGov, over 80 percent said influencers should disclose if they are being paid.
The integration of social media influencers into the political landscape represents a significant shift in how campaigns communicate and engage with voters. While this evolution offers opportunities for increased engagement and accessibility, it also poses challenges related to transparency and ethical practices. As influencers continue to shape the election landscape, it is imperative for both regulatory bodies and audiences to adapt accordingly.
Katie Harbath is a global leader at the intersection of policy, democracy, and technology who spent ten years at Facebook working on elections and now advises tech platforms on trust and safety issues.
Renee DiResta is the author of Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality, and until recently was the Technical Research Manager of Stanford Internet Observatory.
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