New CDT report maps how influencers are reshaping US political messaging

The Center for Democracy and Technology has issued a new report examining how social media creators have become central players in the political information ecosystem. Architects of Online Influence charts the rapid expansion of political activity within the creator economy and warns that the combination of opaque funding, weak platform rules, and gaps in federal regulation is reshaping how US political messaging circulates online.

According to the report, influencers now sit at a strategic intersection of politics and digital media because their perceived authenticity gives them a persuasive advantage over traditional political advertising. Followers tend to treat influencers as trusted sources rather than formal advocates, which makes them effective political messengers, but also potential vectors for dark money and illicit foreign influence. CDT notes that the same dynamics that drive product marketing – credibility, familiarity, and parasocial connection – are now leveraged for campaign and issue communication, often with limited public visibility into who is paying for what.

The report places significant emphasis on transparency, arguing that online political speech should follow the same basic norms that apply to other areas of internet governance. When voters can understand whether political content is compensated, they are better positioned to evaluate the motives behind it. But current platform tools fall short. Paid partnership labels, branded content toggles, and searchable content libraries exist in theory, yet they fail to capture the full range of compensated political posts. Many creators disclose through hashtags or text for clarity to followers, while others avoid platform disclosure features entirely because those tools can trigger automated political-ad enforcement systems. As a result, political sponsorship can remain invisible both to users and to researchers attempting to map influence networks.

Beyond creators themselves, the report highlights the hidden role of intermediaries – talent agencies, influencer-matching platforms, and third-party marketing firms that manage the logistical and financial pipeline between political actors and online creators. These intermediaries help campaigns and advocacy groups target specific demographics or communities, and they sometimes coordinate messaging strategies or initiatives to boost engagement. Their activities, however, sit largely outside public scrutiny, complicating efforts to understand the scale and coordination of political messaging distributed through influencer channels.

The research also points to the complexity of platform rules. TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and X each maintain different policies on political advertising, branded content, paid promotion, and monetisation. These rules overlap, shift frequently, and often use broad or ambiguous definitions. The result is a confusing environment in which creators may unintentionally violate policies or deliberately circumvent them. CDT argues that this patchwork not only frustrates creators but also undermines the purpose of platform governance by making enforcement inconsistent.

At the regulatory level, political influencers fall into a grey zone. Federal Election Commission disclaimer rules generally apply only to advertisements paid directly to a platform, not to influencer posts funded off-platform. FTC endorsement rules cover commercial products, not political messaging. Constitutional protections for political speech further constrain the scope of possible regulation. The combined effect is that most political influencer content bypasses the oversight applied to traditional campaign communications, creating a structural transparency gap.

CDT concludes that political influencers have become architects of modern online influence without a corresponding update to the transparency and accountability mechanisms that govern political communication. As campaigns increasingly rely on creators, the report argues that platforms, policymakers, and industry actors will need clearer standards to ensure that voters can understand who is behind the political narratives appearing in their feeds.