A study by the University of the Philippines and foreign universities has found that at least 1,500 social media influencer accounts were involved in covert campaigning during the 2022 general elections. The research highlights the use of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube for under-the-radar support to political candidates. It estimates spending of up to $27 million on these efforts.
The report, released by the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, was authored by Fatima Gaw of Northwestern University, Jon Benedik Bunquin of the University of Oregon and UP Diliman, Jose Mari Lanuza of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and UP Manila, Samuel Cabbuag of the Hong Kong Baptist University and UP Diliman, Noreen Sapalo of UP Diliman, and Al-Habbyel Yusoph of Bocconi University. The authors employed an interdisciplinary approach combining qualitative social science research, computational methods, and economic modeling. They stated, 'Our close and in-depth examination of social media channels and interviews with influencers, campaign managers and staff and political and advertising consultants revealed a high demand for influencers to campaign for political candidates.'
Using computational methods, they identified 1,425 influencer accounts across the four platforms engaging in covert campaigning for politicians. Economic modeling estimated at least $27 million spent under a pay-per-post model, or $10.9 million under a retainer model. 'Our work also serves as a model for election research and policy that can be employed to examine online political campaigns in different contexts,' the authors added.
The study provides a conceptual and methodological framework for political campaigns involving influencers as covert actors. Of the 1,425 accounts, about 3% were analyzed via an 18-dimensional index. Most were on YouTube (584) and TikTok (544), followed by Facebook (207) and Twitter (89). TikTok had the least election-related content but nearly 13% showed covert activity, while Facebook had the most election posts but only about 1% with anomalous campaigning. Influencers leveraged network features for coordination, such as partisan hashtags on TikTok and coordinated link sharing on Facebook.
