Picking Your Battles: The Role of Influencers in Information Wars
In times of conflict, influencers are flung into a losing battle: stay silent and be deemed ignorant, or speak up and brave the repercussions of lost brand deals, followers, and fame. If one chooses the former, they will deal with a flooded comment section demanding a stance. If one opts for the latter, they can be hailed as an activist, or dismissed as a bigot.
Stars are showing us more of their lives than ever before on TikTok, each short clip revealing intimate details from breakfast recipes to nightly rituals. With this almost invasive content, silence on big global issues can be deafening. Those who have a platform are expected—demanded even, to use their voice and “influence” the masses. It makes sense—if they share their makeup routines, daily meals, and intimate stories, why not their political values? Yet, having a blue check does not warrant being a voice of reason in times of turmoil. Should the people who rule our “for you” pages also rule our political information?
With the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, content on TikTok with the hashtag #israelpalestineconflict has seen 2M views in the past week and 281M overall according to the TikTok Creative Center. Ignoring the conflict that seeps into our social media seems unavoidable and neutrality feels tone-deaf. One creator on X, Abby Govindan, lost a sponsorship after sharing pro-Palestinian views, “To me, being on the right side of history is much more important than having a few extra thousand dollars.”Yet, with millions of creators on social media apps, the oversaturation of uninformed opinions can silence the voices that need to be heard. Brittany Broski is a podcaster and comedian influencer who rose to fame in a video reaction to kombucha. Known for her childish humor and fart jokes, Broski has amassed millions of fans online. In a close-friends story that was screen recorded, she ranted, “What dystopian universe do I have to address the situation in the Middle East? I am the opposite of the person who should be speaking on this. But because I have over a million, I am immediately qualified.” Though phrased brutely, Broski speaks to the pressure for influencers to be social justice warriors. This pressure is just another consequence of the role of the influencer: a blurry line between celebrity and everyday citizen. Untouchable A-list celebrities are upheld as Gods, not forced to speak on issues. Yet the influencer, a much more intimate and relatable figure, must share it all. Speaking up on every issue can feel ingenuine and performative like the black squares posted on Instagram in the heat of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests which clogged important channels of information. Further, it can misdirect viewers from creators who are passionate about certain topics and can share genuine experiences or news sources that can more accurately paint the picture.
We share everything online, and though it makes some uncomfortable, discussing politics on social media should not be stigmatic. More and more individuals are getting information and news from social media, something that must be embraced in the changing world of journalism. The question remains, who can we look to for information in times of crisis? Demanding unqualified creators to “use their platforms” i.e., release a PR statement regarding whatever ongoing conflict is occurring, feeds into an oversaturated and ingenuine internet. Comedians, fashion bloggers, and TikTok chefs are not politicians. Why treat them as such?
