Opinion: Why Biden is investing in influencers to help with this year’s election

Dr Thomas Gift (UCL Political Science) discusses the role social media influencers might play in the up coming US election in The Conversation.

Move over Taylor Swift. You’re not the only one with crowds of worshipping fans who can  tip the 2024 election.

Mega-celebrities like singers, athletes and Hollywood stars get the  bulk of the attention  when it comes to their coveted political endorsements. But this year, it’s the online influencers who candidates, including President Joe Biden, are increasingly looking to court.

Social media personalities on platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram boast hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of followers. These content creators  bankroll their curated lifestyles  by marketing everything from lipstick to watches.

The appeal of these influencers in the political sphere is obvious. Many have built up  vast, admiring audiences. They’ve developed close, intimate relationships that can be leveraged. Their word means something to their followers, whether that’s promoting a L’Oreal eyeliner, or a presidential ticket.

If  "Instagram is the new mall" , it might soon also be the new epicentre of political campaigning, particularly because influencers have a lot of credibility with young people. And, Biden needs young voters to turn out for him, particularly as polling suggests that  young Republicans  may be more enthusiastic about Trump than young Democrats about Biden.

Biden recently  rolled out the red carpet  at the White House for hundreds of influencers including actor Kalen Allen and artist Devon Rodriguez, hoping to persuade them to join his cadre of digital assets. Rodriguez has 9 million Instagram followers and Allen 2 million. Trump, too, has been cosy with conservative influencers  such as the head of "Libs of Tik Tok"  and Seth Dillon of Babylon Bee, a Christian news satire website.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee has constructed an online organising hub that reporter Makena Kelly  has described as  a "destination for influencers, surrogates, and supporters to receive party-sponsored talking points, messaging, and a wide variety of digital content to post on their own social media feeds".

There are reports that the influential  Democrat political action committee (Pac) Priorities USA  is paying US$1 million (£782,000) to around 150 influencers to encourage the publishing of pro-Biden posts. Pacs raise money for candidates independent of official campaigns and then spend cash to bolster their preferred candidates.

The rise of influencers in American politics marks the latest evolution in a stream of technological innovations adapted by candidates, from Barack Obama’s early embrace of the internet   in 2008 to Trump’s unvarished, shoot-from-the-hip   in 2016.

Influencers, however, largely promise to be more subtle, more discreet, and more subliminal than conventional actors involved in electioneering. In fact, trend forecasters have suggested that not being in-your-face and overtly partisan can be the key to perceived  "genuineness" .

A Biden-Harris bumper sticker that "just happens" to find its way into the backdrop of a YouTube clip touting the health benefits of kale smoothies. An "off the cuff" reference to Trump’s plans to strip abortion rights amid a product review for the latest Chanel handbag. It’s not just about parroting back formal campaign slogans.

Issues with influencers

The use of influencers in politics raises big legal, ethical and policy quandaries.

Influencers are generally  required  by the US Federal Trade Commission to disclose any sponsorships and financial gain from sales. Yet the legal landscape surrounding political influencers is still inchoate, and many critics say that politicians and Pacs exploit influencers to circumvent campaign finance laws.

The US Federal Election Commission has  failed to offer regulatory clarity  regarding the rules that apply to influencers in campaigns. Additionally, while some social media companies like Facebook actually  paused political ads  in the days immediately preceding the 2020 election, influencers were left untouched.

The possible problems don’t stop there.

Communications researchers Katie Joseff and Samuel C. Woolley, for example, have  argued  that the hiring of influencers in politics "amounts to a new and growing form of ’inorganic’ information operations - elite-dictated propaganda through trusted social media spokespersons".

Even worse, they say, top-down "propaganda from influencers are better able to evade detection systems built to detect political bots and sockpuppets and to defy regulators concerned with digital free speech".

There’s  no shortage of consternation  about foreign nations and organisations, especially the Kremlin, wielding disinformation to meddle in US elections. While domestic influencers may not have nefarious aims, social media followers may be impressionable in thinking political endorsements are authentic.

The desire to court influencers might even distort public policy. As writer Katie Harbath has  observed , when it comes to debates like whether to ban TikTok over privacy or national security concerns: "Democrats are in a tricky spot because they want access to the younger user base that the app has but also recognise the challenges with the app."

Can influencers swing elections?

If the name "influencer" implies anything, the answer is yes - at least on the margins. While rigorous, experimental evidence  is hard to come by , and the trend in politics is relatively new, it’s clear that Americans who increasingly  get much of their news from digital sources  are  shaped by online content.

People First, a firm that specialises in influencer partnerships,  has found , for example, that more than 40% of people surveyed "trusted influencers more than political campaigns themselves".

Unsurprisingly, influencers are likely to disproportionately sway  youth voters, who tend to lean Democrat. Gen-Z and young millenial voters could turn out at higher rates as a result.

In a 2024 election that’s likely to be decided by razor-thin margins in a handful of swing states, influencers could be influential. Biden, especially, can’t afford to lose the youth vote that supported  Democrats at high rates in the 2022 midterms.

Conspiracy theorists who think that Taylor Swift is a  CIA asset aiming to upend American politics  are looking in the wrong place. For evidence of a more disruptive (and, potentially corruptible) form of politics, they need only fire up social media.


  • University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT (0) 20 7679 2000