The influencer proxy wars have arrived
Influencer content resonates and persuades through soundbites and posed images, and the artificial intimacy of straight-to-camera videos, altering the contours of our perspectives and opinions. According to a Pew Research survey, around 75% of mothers in the U.S. rely heavily on parenting advice from their ‘momfluencers’ on Instagram and YouTube. “Fashion” influencers shape the decisions of millions worldwide in everything from style to political alignment. Influencers have carved a space in our lives where their voices hold power and persuasion through podcasts, vlogs, and reels.
But the role of the influencer has evolved beyond brand endorsements, pushing into the more sobering — and equally unqualified — realms of geopolitics and conflict. This was more apparent than ever during the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, where digital domains became a proxy battlefield.
It reflects how deeply entangled the digital and physical worlds have become. While influencers and celebrities have always impacted pop culture and consumption, their role in amplifying narratives around complex geopolitical conflicts marks a new chapter.
As the skies over Tel Aviv and Gaza reverberated with rocket fire, a different kind of conflict erupted online. The battle for narrative supremacy in the crisis unfolded rapidly on news feeds and TikTok videos. This digitized ‘war’ was fought through selective hashtag campaigns, photos, videos and captions to mobilize opinion worldwide. Each side leveraged the power and pace of social media to win hearts, if not wars, across the globe.
Hamas supporters coordinated messaging across platforms using hashtags and videos, boosting anti-Israel sentiments globally. On the other side, the IDF made tech-savvy use of platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter and Telegram to share information in real-time. But the online discourse thousands of miles from the conflict itself had the most impact.
The clamour around the attacks involved impassioned voices of celebrities, activists and influencers worldwide. Their stances crossed geographies, transcending political and cultural bounds. Social media allowed not just the amplification of facts but a tidal wave of barely intelligible opinion trying to shape the dominant perspective.
While families of Israeli victims searched for information about their loved ones, models like Bella and Gigi Hadid posted pro-Palestine messages. Pop singer Dua Lipa’s posts urged solidarity with Palestinians as images of hang-gliding gunmen became celebrated memes. These were not abstract messages from distant figures commenting from isolated vantage points; they felt like friends or admired figures sharing their worldview, creating a sense of involvement and activism even for those physically removed from the conflict.
The celebrity chorus around Israel-Hamas brought the conflict into millions of feeds worldwide. Social media created a sense of intimacy, immediacy and involvement — bringing alive the human impacts of crisis even for those continents away.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become spaces for multiple generations to engage with global issues. Short videos bearing hashtags like #freepalestine reached millions, introducing complex geopolitics in quick, visual formats.
TikTok’s algorithmic mastery in profiling users allowed pro-Palestine content to spread rapidly among target demographics. The app’s addictive, emotive videos filtered a severe crisis into a form which stimulated outrage and activism among younger digital citizens. Photos and illustrations on Instagram played a similar role — boiling down intricate histories into shareable visuals that inspired empathy for Palestinians.
For many young people, TikTok and Instagram served as the first windows into understanding this decades-old conflict in a simple, graphic manner. The unprecedented speed and stickiness of such content drew users into the quagmire of international disputes in a way traditional media never could. It signals the growing power of social media as a radicalizing force among youth.
On top of the user-generated illusion of involvement, social media birthed damaging misinformation. Doctored photos and videos distorting facts spread like wildfire across platforms.
False imagery of epic photoshopped battles in Gaza went viral on X. Edited clips showing Palestinians celebrating fictional victories against Israel proliferated as well. Pro-Israel accounts also shared old videos misleadingly as recent attacks against Israelis. The social fog benefited actors wishing to create an illusion of success and rally their supporters. The fact that manipulated media easily passes as truth is indicative of our discourse’s growing ‘post-truth’ nature.
Blending influencer marketing with geopolitics signals a new inflection point in our information ecosystems. Digital connectivity has profoundly linked lives across vast geopolitical boundaries. The resonance of an Instagrammer’s stance or a TikTok video on events thousands of miles away reveals the power of virtual proximity.
In many ways, it’s a dystopian fulfilment of the utopian promise of social media — to create a ‘global village’ where connection transcends physical divides. But it’s a village full of dividing lines, blood and violence. And it’s a village where the square is commanded by a vocal minority of glamorous grifters. It entrenches opposing perspectives. Impassioned digital neighbourhoods become ‘echo chambers’ where bias amplifies, drowning the context of reality itself, fuelling hostility between groups who may never meet in person.
This marks a reckoning. In a world where digital engagement is fast becoming a form of activism, what values guide influencers?
We have to consider how to nurture digital discourse that builds bridges, defuses tensions and propagates truth. The distances between strangers are narrowing exponentially through the screen. Unless social media enhances the communication and dissemination of facts in hand with wisdom and nuance, not just connectivity, it will exacerbate disputes instead of resolving them. And unless we stop receiving our news from influencers with no real-world experience, we will continue to be manipulated by sensationalism and faux-analysis.
The violence of 2023 spotlights how profoundly virtual actions can sway real-world tides. This narrative is as much a reflection as a passionate plea to wield the immense power of smartphones and screens with empathy, truth and compassion. The distances separating us are vanishing rapidly.
