Not long ago, it was common wisdom among social media influencers that they shouldn’t talk politics. There was a widespread belief among their crowd that it was bad for business. If you went left, you lost the right, and vice-versa.

Times have changed. Nearly everywhere you look online, influencers are posting political content. Each day, there are new reports detailing their hot takes on elections, campaigns and the culture wars. It’s become a lucrative business for these creators, as they now like to be called, and a boost for those that pay them for hype.

There are a number of recent and high-profile US examples of political influencers lending their clout, whether paid or unpaid: the Pentagon secretly assigned conservative influencers to promote Pete Hegseth’s so-called “warrior ethos” for the armed forces (a Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to the Washington Post’s question about whether they received a salary). The New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, uses a network of friendly (unpaid) influencers to communicate with gen Z. During his failed run for governor of California, Tom Steyer hired creators to promote his campaign – some did not disclose that they got paid. When the former secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem toured an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon last year, she was accompanied by three conservative influencers; whether they were paid is unclear. Some creators seemingly become parts of the campaigns they endorse; others try hard to give the impression they are far removed.

We’ve been tracking the rise of political influencers in our research for several years now. We’ve noted that many don’t disclose when they are paid to endorse candidates or ideas. The federal regulatory environment in the United States does not provide guardrails requiring disclosure from........

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