What a super argument

Our latest work on this subject is one part a pragmatic attempt to come up with an ethical framework to guide the space, and one part a worrisome empirical finding. For the former, we make a straightforward argument for authentic, autonomous and transparent influencer conduct and disclosure if someone gets paid to promote a political candidate, cause, or campaign. For the latter, one of our research teams, at the University of Tennessee’s Information Integrity Institute, found that to people who consumed more content from political influencers, disclosure mattered less. We hypothesize that those heavy social media users operate from a baseline assumption that all creators get paid in some way – regardless of if it is disclosed or not. It’s not hard to imagine that they’ve become inured to online astroturfing in this era of digital disinformation.

Ethical political influencer conduct, we argue, means that creators must take their responsibility as information purveyors seriously – they should serve as role models rather than spin doctors for people searching for insight on civic and political issues. Creators can and should retain autonomy when they engage with politics. Rather than becoming mouthpieces of campaigns, they should be true to their own beliefs and clear about presentation of opinion versus genuine news. Most of all, influencers should disclose if they got payments or other perks from a campaign. They owe it to their audiences.

So it doesn’t actually matter, given that folk are cynical – realist – enough to know that everyone’s being paid. But everyone should still do what we want anyway.