Social media influencers are getting political, and we aren't ready for it

Elizabeth Dubois presents at the 5th annual John Meisel Lecture Series in Contemporary Political Controversies at Queen's University. 

From opinion leadership to social media influencer marketing, popular  social media accounts are being integrated into election campaigns  around the world. Online influencers’ ability to reach targeted and  often hard to reach audiences could be a helpful advancement in campaign  strategy but, if left unchecked, could also exacerbate the spread of  disinformation, foreign interference, and lead to electoral  interference. In this talk Dubois tackles the contentious impacts of  social media on politics by focusing on online political influencers,  questioning their political roles, their power, and which voices we pay  attention to.