New Illinois Proposal Cracks Down On Using Influencers In Political Campaigns

Evidently, there's not enough political advertising already.

Just when we hoped thought that the actual influence of social media influencers was dwindling, politics are pushing that process right along.

A new proposal in Illinois targets political campaigns using influencers during election season to help promote their candidate. There's an influencer marketing loophole: the Illinois campaign disclosure law doesn't mandate that influencers disclose whether or not they're getting paid to post political content.

For example: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's crew told NBC Chicago that they've been in communication with "around 100" influencers, but are actually paying 4 of them.

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The new proposal hopes to close that loophole. 47th Ward Alderman Matt Martin brought it up. The proposal would require paid political influencers to include in their post where they got the money from.

Really, influencers are supposed to do this with business deals too but they rarely ever disclose it's a partnership or an ad in the posts.

Other states, like California, have restrictions and requirements in place for influencers in similar cases.

Chicago Billionaire vs. Good Influence

There's already been a political influencer problem in Chicago. Billionaire Chicago democratic donor Michael Sacks sent a cease-and-desist letter to Good Influence, which is a company that represents social media influencers.

Sacks says that influencers represented by Good Influence spread potentially "false and defamatory" information, including the claim that Sacks helped close Chicago Public Schools.

Good Influence's response to the letter was: "Good Influence responded to the cease and desist letter and considers this matter closed. To the extent the letter suggested that Good Influence may be liable for purported false statement about Mr. Sacks in unidentified social media posts, Good Influence expressly denies that assertion".

"Influencer Fatigue"

Research has identified that 'influencer fatigue' is becoming more common as people are tired of scrolling through posts with '#ad' (which is why so many influencers don't disclose ads).

There's a lot of money to be made as a successful influencer, but they are increasingly unfollowed because they no longer post original or unique content once brand deals emerge.