The integration of social media influencers in political communication and into electoral campaigns has become a global phenomenon. Political parties, candidates, governments, civil society organizations and foreign actors engage influencers to reach voters and encourage civic participation. However, these relationships have also the potential to facilitate covert campaigning, the dissemination of disinformation, and coordinated foreign interference, giving rise to challenging questions concerning transparency and political accountability.
A new report by International IDEA and the Pol Comm Tech Lab reviews the laws, regulations, and guidelines in 18 countries and the European Union to determine how these existing frameworks address such activities and where gaps remain.
Led by Dr. Elizabeth Dubois, Dr. Louise Stahl, Dr. Katharine Dommett, Dr. Arturo Arriagada, Kyla Perry, the research revealed that established rules governing political finance and electoral communication are being interpreted in a manner that stretches their application to influencers, with the associated obligations typically being initiated by the disbursement of funds. Nevertheless, it is becoming evident that payment is an inadequate indicator of political influence in and of itself as non-monetary forms of compensation, payments made outside of designated platforms, and unpaid ideological activities can circumvent these frameworks. And while commercial advertising regulations contain the most developed provisions addressing influencers specifically, they typically exclude political content. This creates a striking imbalance: an influencer may face extensive disclosure requirements when promoting a commercial product, yet no comparable obligations when promoting a political candidate.
To address these challenges, the new Influence and Political Integrity: Mapping Regulatory Frameworks for Influencers in Elections report provides a framework for electoral management bodies, legislators, and platforms to consider how to respond to influencer activity while protecting legitimate political participation and freedom of expression. The authors propose seventeen recommendations organized around five priorities:
- foundational definitions, data access and safeguards for freedom of expression,
- moving beyond the payment trigger,
- platform design,
- enforcement capacity and cross-agency coordination,
- emerging gaps such as AI-generated influencers and non-financial foreign interference.
Launched as part of online event on November 5, the report is the result of a multi-year international collaboration led Dr. Elizabeth Dubois, the University Research Chair in Politics, Communication and Technology and an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa where she runs the Pol Comm Tech Lab. A Faculty member at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, her work examines political uses of digital media including media manipulation, citizen engagement, and artificial intelligence.
Supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the report was authored with Dr. Louise Stahl and Kyla Perry from the Pol Comm Tech Lab at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Katharine Dommett, a Professor of Digital Politics at the University of Sheffield (U.K.), and Dr. Arturo Arriagada, and Associate Professor of Digital Culture and Creative Labor at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile) and a Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). They were supported by an international team of research assistant who collected evidence from the various jurisdictions covered by the report.