Real Regulations for Fake Influencers

People love their favorite influencers because they seem like passionate social media users sharing their thoughts and fighting the good fight. Would it surprise you to know that 25% of digital creators were approached about promoting political content in the 2024 election? According to the Brennan Center, that is exactly what happened.¹

That influencer that seems to be altruistically creating content to advance a position may be secretly paid by a political organization, possibly to spread total nonsense. And because the majority of social media influencers do not verify the content they spread, they do even more harm.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an influencer as “one who exerts influence: a person who inspires or guides the actions of others”.² Ballotpedia defines an influencer as “a person or organization that has the power to change things or peoples’ minds, or to make things happen”. ³

Political influencers impact public opinion and political decisions. As Schwemmer and Riedl explain, influencers can use their considerable power for good, such as encouraging political participation, or in nefarious ways, such as spreading misinformation.⁴ Regardless of content, however, many influencers are in the marketing business, using their platforms to make money.

The success of social media influencers thought to be non-celebrity, ordinary folks are derived from their perceived authenticity. Of course, social media influencers can derive significant revenue from advertising. That is transparent. What is not transparent is that some influencers secretly sway their audiences without any disclosure. Online influencers are not obligated to divulge the source of their funding or whether their content is sponsored. As stated above, this coupled with the fact a study conducted by UNESCO shows that 62% of surveyed creators do not vet the accuracy of content before sharing it creates a misinformation disaster.⁵ Deceptively monetized influencers spreading misinformation can translate into increased polarization and distrust in the political system. 

Nearly 40% of young Americans aged 18-29 “regularly” get their news from influencers, according to a recent Pew Research Center report.⁶ What happens when misinformation is spread by influencers on social media? Opinions are swayed, and the truth becomes muddled or obscured. When social media influencers are paid and then spread misinformation, our democracy suffers. At a minimum, influencers should be required to disclose when they are being paid to spread political messages.

Sources

1. Vandewalker, Ian, et al. “Online Ad Spending in 2024 Election Totaled at Least $1.9 Billion.” Brennan Center for Justice, 7 May 2025, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/online-ad-spending-2024-election-totaled-least-19-billion. ↩︎
2. Merriam-Webster. “Definition of INFLUENCER.” Merriam-Webster.Com, 2019, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/influencer. ↩︎
3. “What Is an Influencer.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/What_is_an_influencer. Accessed 31 Aug. 2026. ↩︎
4. Schwemmer, Carsten, and Magdalena Riedl. “From Hashtags to Ballots: Conceptualizing Political Influencers and Evaluating Their Impact on Election Outcomes.” PLoS ONE, vol. 20, no. 5, May 2025, pp. e0321592–92, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321592. ↩︎
5. O’Hagan, Clare. “2/3 Of Digital Content Creators Do Not Check Their Facts before Sharing, but Want to Learn How to Do so (UNESCO Survey).” Unesco.Org, 2024, https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/2/3-digital-content-creators-do-not-check-their-facts-sharing-want-learn-how-do-so-unesco-survey. ↩︎
6. Pew Research Center. “America’s News Influencers.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 18 Nov. 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2024/11/18/americas-news-influencers/. ↩︎

About the author

Elliot Richardson

Elliot Richardson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Run Down the Middle (RDM), an evidence-based public policy and civic education and engagement platform built to help galvanize Americans searching for a better political environment and real policy solutions. An attorney and longtime public policy advocate, Elliot has spent his career bringing together business owners, advocates, policymakers and community leaders to advance practical solutions. He is also the Co-Founder and President of the Small Business Advocacy Council (SBAC), writes a monthly column for the Daily Herald and has been interviewed by numerous different media outlets. Through RDM, Elliot works to break down complex policy issues, elevate our political discourse, encourage more constructive civic participation and galvanize people around solutions.