The Guardian
· collected 2026-09-17 · by Martin J Riedl and Samuel Woolley
Not long ago, it was common wisdom among social media influencers that they shouldn’t talk politics.
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they → talk → politics
There was a widespread belief among their crowd that it was bad for business.
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it → be → business
If you went left, you lost the right, and vice-versa.
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you → go → right
Times have changed.
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Times → change → ?
Nearly everywhere you look online, influencers are posting political content.
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influencers → look → content
It’s become a lucrative business for these creators, as they now like to be called, and a boost for those that pay them for hype.
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that → become → hype
There are a number of recent and high-profile US examples of political influencers lending their clout, whether paid or unpaid: the Pentagon secretly assigned conservative influencers to promote Pete Hegseth’s so-called “warrior ethos” for the armed forces (a Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to the Washington Post’s question about whether they received a salary).
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they → be → salary
The New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, uses a network of friendly (unpaid) influencers to communicate with gen Z.
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mayor → use → Z.
During his failed run for governor of California, Tom Steyer hired creators to promote his campaign – some did not disclose that they got paid.
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they → fail → campaign
When the former secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem toured an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon last year, she was accompanied by three conservative influencers; whether they were paid is unclear.
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paid → tour → influencers
Some creators seemingly become parts of the campaigns they endorse; others try hard to give the impression they are far removed.
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they → become → impression
We’ve been tracking the rise of political influencers in our research for several years now.
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We → track → years
We’ve noted that many don’t disclose when they are paid to endorse candidates or ideas.
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they → note → candidates
The federal regulatory environment in the United States does not provide guardrails requiring disclosure from influencers promoting politics in exchange for payment.
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environment → provide → payment
While some states have laws mandating transparency from paid political influencers on the books, those are typically limited to local elections.
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those → have → elections
And though there are occasional pushes for federal transparency bills, the gridlock in Washington makes any such attempt unlikely to bear fruit.
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attempt → be → fruit
A lack of transparency is convenient for influencers capitalizing on politics.
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lack → capitalize → politics
It also suits politicians because it helps them appear genuinely popular with the digital “in” crowd.
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them → suit → crowd
But when this coordination happens secretly, it is a new form of political astroturfing.
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it → happen → astroturfing
We’ve also noted that it is computational propaganda, just substituting bots and AI (sometimes – some influencers these days are AI avatars themselves) for coordinated groups of paid creators posting content together.
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influencers → note → content
The end goal is to manipulate trending and recommendation algorithms and public opinion in favor of those paying influencers.
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goal → manipulate → influencers
Our latest work on this subject is one part a pragmatic attempt to come up with an ethical framework to guide the space, and one part a worrisome empirical finding.
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part → come → space
For the former, we make a straightforward argument for authentic, autonomous and transparent influencer conduct and disclosure if someone gets paid to promote a political candidate, cause, or campaign.
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someone → make → candidate
For the latter, one of our research teams, at the University of Tennessee’s Information Integrity Institute, found that to people who consumed more content from political influencers, disclosure mattered less.
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disclosure → find → influencers
We hypothesize that those heavy social media users operate from a baseline assumption that all creators get paid in some way – regardless of if it is disclosed or not.
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it → hypothesize → way
It’s not hard to imagine that they’ve become inured to online astroturfing in this era of digital disinformation.
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they → ’ → disinformation
Ethical political influencer conduct, we argue, means that creators must take their responsibility as information purveyors seriously – they should serve as role models rather than spin doctors for people searching for insight on civic and political issues.
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they → argue → issues
Creators can and should retain autonomy when they engage with politics.
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they → retain → politics
Rather than becoming mouthpieces of campaigns, they should be true to their own beliefs and clear about presentation of opinion versus genuine news.
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they → become → news
Most of all, influencers should disclose if they got payments or other perks from a campaign.
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they → disclose → campaign
They owe it to their audiences.
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They → owe → audiences
We know from survey data that people who prize authenticity among the creators they follow are also more supportive of paid political influencer disclosure requirements.
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they → know → requirements
Influencers and political campaigns should take note: being authentic and disclosing payments can and should go hand in hand.
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being → take → hand
Prior and current election cycles in the United States reveal that the regulatory gap in influencer disclosure only exacerbates the problem.
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gap → reveal → problem
Absent oversight, it’s likely influencers will continue promoting politics in exchange for payment, and often without disclosure.
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influencers → ’ → disclosure
Creators are vital in today’s media ecology in shaping public opinion on political issues, candidates and campaigns – but when they covertly work as paid propagandists, they degrade an already struggling information ecosystem rather than build it up.
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they → shape → it
This might yield short-term financial gain, but it’s a poor long-term approach to business.
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it → yield → business
People are already overwhelmed by AI slop and falsehoods online.
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People → overwhelm → slop
If even some influencers continue along this current path, all risk becoming lumped in with these other forms of junk content – they lose the impact of the carefully constructed candor and inventiveness that drew people to them in the first place.
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that → continue → place
If Congress won’t act to preserve democratic communication and election integrity, what’s left is to directly appeal to those who bankroll political influencer operations or have sway over the online ecology – campaigns, influencer marketing companies, social media platforms, and creators themselves.
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who → act → ecology
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
