Influencer political news didn’t rise in 2024. It swallowed the press whole. Newsrooms got quieter while bedrooms lit up, phones held inches from faces, stories pouring out raw, fast, and mostly unchecked.
People don’t wait for anchors anymore. They swipe. Scroll. React. One in five North Americans now gets political updates from TikTok. More than half check social media for the pulse. They don’t need credentials; they want conviction. And if the facts come with edits, jump cuts, and a trending sound, even better.
This is where the real messaging war plays out now, far from editorials, deep inside the feed. You see it in real time: Trump, under pressure to release the Epstein files, suddenly revives the Russia hoax storyline. Tulsi Gabbard, somehow now his Director of National Intelligence, starts talking about treason in the Obama years. Treason. Trump leans in, reposts fake videos of Obama in handcuffs, says the Deep State tried to steal the election. Says they’re still after him. Says he might be assassinated.
It’s noise, but it’s engineered noise. Not to persuade. To distract. To flood. The base was promised answers about Epstein. They’re getting fan fiction about 2016 instead.
And the truth? That died years ago with the full assent of Trump and the applause of those who preferred the performance. He didn’t just blur the line between fact and fiction. He walked across it, waving.
Journalists can’t keep up not because they don’t know the truth, but because they’re not the ones holding the mic anymore. The influencers are. And many are just repackaging the same conspiracy machinery that built Trump in the first place. Only now, it’s working against him too.
What follows isn’t a tidy analysis. It’s a post-mortem of credibility, a look at how journalism got edged out by spectacle, and how power now flows through the hands of people who answer to no one but the algorithm.
The Rise of the Bedroom Broadcasters
Political content across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube exploded in the lead-up to the 2024 US elections. You didn’t need a newsroom, a degree in journalism, or a big-name network to create political content. Just a phone, a ring light, and a platform.
Content about the elections wasn’t informal; it was personal. Speaking from bedrooms and cars, they used humor, outrage, and storytelling to draw in millions, especially younger voters. Their content felt more like conversation than news. What made it powerful was how quickly it spread.
A two-minute rant on a policy shift could hit a million views before a news outlet even drafted a headline. Virality beats verification. And for millions of Gen Z and millennial voters, influencers didn’t just report the news, they were the news. This direct, unfiltered approach fostered a sense of authenticity and accessibility that traditional media often struggled to replicate, creating a powerful bond with an audience hungry for relatable perspectives on complex political issues.
Mainstream Media Struggled to Connect
Legacy media struggled to keep up with social media influencers. Trust had been slipping for years. Accusations of bias, stale formats, and corporate interests made many young people tune out traditional news entirely.
Television news felt distant. Newspapers? Too slow. As audiences shifted online, many outlets faced layoffs, slashed investigative budgets, and shrinking reach.
Even the best journalism couldn’t compete with the algorithm’s appetite for engagement. The journalism vs content creators debate came into sharp focus during the 2024 US elections. While journalists held to format and objectivity, creators leaned into personality and subjectivity.
When the attention of the masses moved to TikTok trends and livestream breakdowns, it wasn’t long before the traditional outlets fell far behind. This inability to pivot quickly enough left a vacuum, allowing new voices to fill the void and redefine how political discourse was consumed, particularly by younger demographics.
But with influence comes risk. And on social media, there’s little guardrail for truth.
Misinformation, Influence, and Accountability
The 2024 election saw waves of viral falsehoods. Edited clips. Misquoted policies. Deepfakes. Some creators spread misinformation unknowingly.
Others just chased views. There’s no editorial board on TikTok or Instagram. No fact-checking desk behind that YouTube rant. While journalists operate under ethical codes and editorial oversight, influencers operate in a space where hot takes and controversy are rewarded. This raises hard questions. Should influencers be held to the same standards as journalists? Can accountability exist in a decentralized media world?
As social media misinformation surged, platforms struggled to respond fast enough. By the time fact-checkers caught up, the damage was often already done, leaving a lasting impact on public perception and the democratic process.
The 2024 Election: Who Actually Shaped the Outcome?
While mainstream pundits debated poll numbers on TV, social media influencers drove the real conversations online. Accounts like @CivicSimp, @LeftistLauren, and @ConsciousConservative reached millions daily, explaining bills, debunking talking points, or rallying their followers. Influencers didn’t just observe. They took action. Some led voter registration drives. Others rallied support, or opposition, for candidates.
Influencers also reframed complex issues like immigration and inflation into digestible, emotional narratives that resonated with their audiences.
And political campaigns took note of the trend. Politicians began skipping press conferences and joining livestreams instead. They leaned into influencer partnerships, eager to connect with audiences unreachable by traditional ads.
The media spotlight didn’t just shift; it fractured. And in many cases, influencers held more sway than journalists ever did, demonstrating a profound power to mobilize and persuade voters. This direct line to their often highly engaged and loyal followers allowed influencers to bypass traditional media gatekeepers, delivering messages with an authenticity that resonated deeply.
The shift means that narratives could be shaped, and even entire movements galvanized, outside the conventional political communication channels. To navigate this new reality, we must prioritize media literacy and develop strategies to ensure responsible use of these powerful platforms.
Redefining Credibility: Who Do We Trust Now?
Once upon a time, trust came from credentials. Now, it comes from relatability. Audiences followed creators not because they were experts, but because they were familiar. A face on your phone. A voice in your feed.
Journalists still deliver facts, but influencers build connections. And that connection has blurred the lines between facts and fiction. Where does opinion end and information begin? Is a content creator giving a policy breakdown, or just venting?
For many viewers, the distinction doesn’t matter. This shift in credibility, away from institutions and toward individuals, is profound. Journalism vs content creators isn’t just a debate about format. It’s a battle over trust, attention, and who gets to define truth in a hyper-connected world.
The implications extend far beyond election cycles, fundamentally altering how societies receive and interpret information. The familiar faces of influencers offer a perceived authenticity that often eclipses the structured reporting of traditional news. This personal bond fosters a sense of loyalty, making their opinions feel more trustworthy than a formally presented news report, even if less rigorously fact-checked.
The emotional resonance of a creator’s personal narrative frequently outweighs the detached objectivity that journalism strives for. This dynamic creates a challenging environment for established media, as they grapple with an audience that increasingly values connection over traditional journalistic rigor.
Global Implications and the Future of Political Media
What happened in the US didn’t stay in the U.S. From India’s influencer-led voting campaigns to Brazil’s battles with social media misinformation, the same trends played out globally. In Canada, a network of right-wing podcasters and livestreamers amplified Pierre Poilievre’s populist message, trading press credentials for clicks and talking points. In the UK, creators shaped political debates around climate and immigration. And in Ireland, Conor McGregor, now flirting with a presidential run, turned outrage and virality into political capital, proof that fame can be a faster path to power than policy.
Governments and tech companies scrambled to catch up. Some pushed for regulation. Others leaned on moderation, algorithm tweaks, and third-party fact-checking. But for every piece of harmful content removed, ten more popped up elsewhere.
So what’s next: Will journalism adapt and merge with creator culture? Or will it fade into niche relevance?
We can’t address these questions with certainty. But one thing is clear: the stakes are high. Misinformation spreads faster than facts. Attention trumps nuance. And unless traditional media evolves alongside audience behavior, the very foundation of informed citizenship, and democracy, may crack, posing an existential threat to stable governance.
Conclusion
Influencers now hold more sway over public opinion than the press ever did. Not because they’re more credible, but because they’re more clickable. They move faster, speak louder, and know how to slip through the cracks of truth without ever calling it lying.
What started as disruption became dominance. Journalism didn’t just lose relevance; it lost the room. It’s no longer the gatekeeper. Just another voice, flattened in the algorithm, struggling to be heard over creators, chasing engagement in the name of enlightenment.
And what fills that space isn’t journalism. It’s something else, louder, looser, untethered from standards, driven by metrics. The line between information and entertainment is gone. The line between truth and whatever sticks? Evaporated.
This isn’t evolution. It’s erosion. And in the wreckage, the burden doesn’t shift to the influencers. It falls on the audience. Because when no one is held to account, the only defense left is discernment.
The feed won’t save democracy. It doesn’t even care if it kills it.
Marc-Roger Gagne MAPP
@Ottlegalrebels