Influencers impacting elections, politics — study
ZURICH, Switzerland — A new study looked into the impact social media creators and influencers have during election campaigns given the lack of strict regulations.
Researchers at Canada's University of Ottowa led by professor Elizabeth Dubois and Louise Stahl published the 46-page "Influencers and Elections: The Many Roles Content Creators Play" study.
The report looks into concerns about misinformation and disinformation, transparency, data privacy and election interference, including AI (Artificial Intelligence) generated influence.
"Social media influencers are being integrated into campaign strategies in many ways and we know their content can resonate strongly with potential voters, what we often don't know is if and how they are paid, whether they are working with a partisan group, or what their ethical standards are," Dubois said in a statement.
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Dubois and Stahl's team looked into recent elections around the world including the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, India, and Germany, specially the ethical questions and transparency issues involving content creators.
The study found that influencers act as advertisers, celebrity endorsers, and campaign volunteers, to some extent, even journalists, making their particular roles in elections hard to define, identify, and regulate.
Influencers can reach new audiences instantly for increased democratic engagement, but can also stir up issues like data privacy breaches, the lack of editorial standards and transparency, political manipulation, and evasion of spending limits.
The report then suggests the implementation of "regulatory modernization, platform updates for better transparency, influencer education, and media literacy efforts" as necessary moves to oversee the participation of influencers in election circuits.
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