Political campaigns increasingly leverage social media influencers to promote candidates, exploiting a regulatory gap in campaign finance rules. 

According to recent reporting by Lee Fang, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has not established clear guidelines for disclosing payments to individual influencers for election-related content. 

While traditional campaign advertisements require disclaimer notices identifying the sponsor, influencer marketing operates unregulated.

Fang’s investigation reveals that campaigns, including those of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are allocating substantial funds to influencer marketing agencies. 

The Harris-Walz campaign reportedly spent $1.9 million on Village Marketing Agency, which aims to recruit 5,000 social media influencers for Harris’s presidential campaign.

Other companies hired for political campaigns include: 

• Good Influence – a company that generates advocacy campaigns for progressive causes using social media influencers.
  
• Dysrupt LLC – an influencer marketing campaign that touts its work with corporate brands such as Absolut, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, and Fender.
  
• PrioritiesUSA – founded as Obama’s primary SuperPAC during the 2012 reelection campaign.

The lack of transparency in influencer payments makes tracking which content creators receive compensation for political messaging challenging.

Despite efforts to reform election transparency rules, the FEC formally deferred action on the issue in December.

The Race is Heating Up Ahead of the 2024 Election

At the recent Democratic National Convention, influencers received VIP treatment, including free accommodations and exclusive events, in exchange for creating content.

“We’re giving creators a front-row seat to history,” Matt Hill, Senior Director of Communications for the Convention, said in a statement.

On the Republican side, a new voter turnout initiative backed by pro-Trump influencers aims to mobilize young male voters for the 2024 election. 

PAC Send the Vote, which has reported funding of $20 million, uses famous YouTube personalities the Nelk Boys and various UFC fighters in its outreach efforts.