More and more influencers are becoming politicized and can thus influence elections. Bild: IMAGO/Westend61 / imago images
Analyse
“Fuck, that’s hard,” are the words of the well-known Youtuber Rezo in his political Video “The Destruction of the CDU”. In 2019 he revealed unpleasant facts about the Christian Democrat: inside – shortly before the European elections.
“I will show you how the CDU people lie (…) and apparently participate in various war crimes,” Rezo announces at the beginning of the video. In particular, he criticizes the Union Party for its climate policy. It sparked a heated debate at the time.
And: The Union lost a lot of approval – especially among young voters.
Influencers are increasingly influencing politics
“With this video, Rezo had aroused interest in the possible influence of influencers on politics,” says political scientist Katja Muñoz from the “Deutsche Gesellschaft for Foreign Policy”. She’s sitting at a big table, boy People out of Deutschland and the USA listen to her carefully. Because they too could have the “power” to influence politics – just through their cell phones.
Youtuber Rezo proved: Influencers can influence elections. Image: dpa / Henning Kaiser
That’s why Muñoz has them for the project “German-American Initiative on Influencers, Disinformation and Democracy in the Digital Age”. Berlin invited. The sixteen influencers have built a sizeable following through their content on social media. Together they reach about 1.5 million people each Instagram and tiktok.
Lifestyle, sports, finance, mental health and Education – but none of them offer political content. Muñoz says: “I wanted to bring influencers into the project who are active everywhere else – because they make up the majority, but can also exert political influence.”
Tiktok is a popular video portal that is used primarily by young people.Image: AP / Rick Rycroft
Beauty or sport: Influencers from all niches can politicize
“Even if it doesn’t belong to your niche, if you feel like saying something: then do it,” says one of the young influencers, to which a nod of approval goes around. One of the US participants gives an example of an influencer from Utah.
“Although she is very conservative and posts about lifestyle, she has expressed shock at the wave of abortion bans in the US,” she says. Your counterpart says: “Many of us want to be politically active but are afraid of losing followers.” The German influencers in the group in particular are reticent here.
Munoz says:
“The German participating influencers tend not to feel drawn to starting a political campaign with politicians or a party. The previous discussions with them show me that. However, it is not a ‘no-go’ for them, with one institution – i.e. with ministries – to work.”
But such a cooperation usually fails because of the money. In other words, the payment for the influencers. Things are different in the USA: the White House is even planning its own there meeting room for influencers.
There will soon be a press room like this for influencers in the White House.Bild: IMAGO/Sipa USA
“In this way, the US government is able to communicate with them offensively and strategically,” says Muñoz. US President Joe Biden already relied on the “power” of influencers at the midterms in November.
Biden’s strategy team is building an army of influencers
According to the US news portal “Axios” Biden’s digital strategy team is working with hundreds of influencers across the country to promote the 80-year-old’s accomplishments in the Oval Office in an effort to attract voters ages 18 to 29 who support the White House or not yet following the Democratic Party on various online platforms.
Influencers will therefore play a major role in the upcoming 2024 US presidential election, explains Muñoz. According to one of the Americans in the project group, political interest is increasing rapidly among young people in the USA. “Movements like ‘Black Lives Matter’ or ‘Pride Month’ are more politicized in the States than in Germany,” says the young woman, who has lived in Berlin for several years.
Trust in influencers is high – even when it comes to political issues
Of their Opinion according to people trust the content of influencers more than posts by politicians. “Because there is often simply no access to them here,” says the young woman. Muñoz joins in and explains why.
She says:
“Influencers build up an emotional closeness with their community over a long period of time. So there is good access to people. It’s different with the parties. Direct contact is often missing here.”
But some politicians, according to Muñoz, are slowly jumping on the bandwagon and using their social channels to take their followers into their everyday lives. Such content aroused interest mainly among young people. “The politician reflects more authenticity and that is very well received,” says the expert.
The watson app for your smartphone
Habeck is developing into an influencer
In this way, politicians are increasingly becoming influencers. Muñoz cites Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) as an example. “He communicates very transparently and authentically via his channels, without filters. He uses the exchange with the community,” she explains.
He is often very open in front of the camera and admits, for example, that he is overwhelmed with doing the laundry and eats muesli with water because he doesn’t have it in his Supermarket have done. According to Muñoz, former US President Donald Trump is also a part of this Influencer.
When influencers mobilize people politically – like Trump
“Trump also acts as an influencer. However, he did not build this up by continuously posting content – like my participants in the project – but simply through his ‘celebrity status’,” says Muñoz. And Trump knows: “Drama gets clicks,” adds one of the influencers at the table.
Donald Trump founded his own social platform “Truth Social”. Credit: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire / Taidgh Barron
In her opinion, Trump was not so extreme on social media at the beginning. But then he wanted to reach a large audience and became more and more extreme. He also opened the door wide for the spread of disinformation.
Influencers need to be part of the discussion
And here lies a great danger that all influencers pose, Muñoz adds to the discussion. “You can mobilize people for anti-democratic goals,” she says. It is therefore important that the interface between politics and Social Media to understand better – and for them influencers are part of it.
According to the political scientist, influencers are becoming increasingly politicized and spreading more and more political content. “We don’t want to study them like guinea pigs, we want to include them in the solution,” says Muñoz.
That means: It’s important to start a discussion, engage with them, and understand how they feel about their political influence as influencers.
Note on transparency
At the request of project manager Katja Muñoz, the anonymity of the participating influencers will be preserved.
