Influencers are increasingly recognized as powerful political actors. With large followings, deep platform expertise, and strong trust relationships with their audiences, they are leveraged by political campaigns in various ways. The political roles of influencers can raise concerns. Some are paid to spread disinformation or inadvertently share misinformation due to a lack of verification. Influencers are also used to circumvent ad transparency and spending regulations, with political partnerships going undisclosed or financed through third parties. In some cases, influencers have been instrumental in foreign interference efforts and in shadow campaigning and covert propaganda initiatives.
With the support Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue, the Pol Comm Tech just released Influencers and Elections: The many roles content creators play, a new report exploring the roles of influencers during elections co-authored by Dr. Elizabeth Dubois, the University Research Chair in Politics, Communication and Technology and a Faculty membre of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, and Louise Stahl, PhD candidate at the Lab and the Centre.
Inspired by a special season of the Wonks and War Rooms podcast, the report highlights both innovative campaign strategies and emerging risks in the political use of influencers. It examines five influencer roles directly connected to campaign strategies - advertisers, celebrity endorsers, media outlets, campaign volunteers, and data brokers - as well as three additional roles influencers play more independently during elections: journalists, lobbyists, and average people who shape political conversations. The report brings cases from elections worldwide to illustrate these political uses.
Influencers play varied roles in elections and should not be treated as a uniform group. While tracking advertising spend is important, policies must address the broader political impact of influencers. As such, the report offers the following recommendations:
- Media literacy: Civil society, educators, and journalists can help users critically evaluate influencer-created political content, recognizing bias, misinformation and political sponsorship.
- Strengthening Monitoring Efforts: Collaboration among researchers, journalists, platforms and civil society organizations is essential to track and expose problematic users of influencers in political discourse.
- Ethical Coverage: Journalists should report responsibly on influencers’ political engagement, prioritizing transparency over sensationalism.
- Closing Transparency Loopholes: Legal and policy reforms should include sponsored political content through influencers in disclosure requirements and online ad libraries. Platforms must adjust their technical infrastructure to track and archive this content.
- Protecting Voter Data: Stronger regulations are needed to safeguard personal data collected through influencers, preventing invasive micro-targeting and reinforcing digital privacy.
- Support Training for Influencers: Equip influencers with best practices for political disclosure, fact-checking, and ethical engagement.
Encourage Responsible Influence: Influencers should adhere to principles of freedom of expression, transparency, responsibility, and pluralism.
By addressing these challenges, policymakers, journalists, and platforms can help ensure that influencers contribute to a fair and transparent electoral process.
Read the full report here.
This report is also available in French.