Editorial: The role of political influencers in electoral campaigns

The rapid transformation of political communication in the digital age has elevated political influencers from peripheral actors to central agents in electoral campaigns. As social media platforms have reshaped the architecture of the public sphere, they have also transformed how citizens encounter political information, form attitudes, and engage in political participation. Political influencers -social media actors ranging from dedicated political content creators to lifestyle influencers who occasionally engage in political discourse -operate at the intersection of personalization, authenticity, and algorithmic amplification. This positioning enables them to bridge institutional politics and everyday digital culture, particularly among younger and otherwise disengaged audiences.Unlike traditional political actors, influencers rely on perceived authenticity, parasocial interaction, and sustained audience engagement. These characteristics foster trust and emotional proximity, allowing influencers to shape not only issue salience but also political identities and affective orientations. As a result, they increasingly function as agenda-setters, intermediaries, and mobilizers within hybrid media systems. Yet, despite their growing relevance, systematic research on political influencers remains comparatively underdeveloped. Existing scholarship has often subsumed influencers under broader studies of social media, rather than treating them as distinct actors with specific communicative logics and political effects. This Research Topic contributes to addressing this gap by bringing together conceptual, empirical, and methodological perspectives on the role of political influencers in electoral campaigns. Moreover, it extends our empirical knowledge on the mechanisms through which parasocial relationships operate, the way political influencers affect political engagement among young constituencies, and the importance of social media advertising campaigns in amplifying their impact.Madsen provides a conceptual analysis of parasocial mourning in the context of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The study demonstrates how political influencers can generate intense emotional attachments that extend beyond everyday political engagement into ritualized collective practices. Drawing on the concepts of mediated intimacy and affective publics, the paper shows how grief, anger, and solidarity are expressed and circulated through digital platforms, creating forms of collective identification that resemble secular religious practices. This analysis illustrates how political influencers can become focal points for community formation and mobilization, particularly in moments of crisis.Munzir et al. examine the relationship between political influencers and youth political engagement through a comparative survey conducted in Austria, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Serbia. Distinguishing between general social media influencers and political social media influencers (PSMIs), the authors show that following PSMIs is positively associated with political efficacy across most contexts, and in some cases with political participation. The study underscores that influencers who consistently produce political content have a stronger impact on political engagement than those who engage only sporadically.Suing focuses on the role of artificial intelligence in the dissemination of disinformation during Ecuador's 2025 presidential election. Although the study does not exclusively examine influencers, it situates them within a broader ecosystem of digital political communication in which various actors contribute to the amplification of misleading content. The findings indicate that citizens perceive AI-generated disinformation as influential in shaping electoral outcomes and express significant concern about its implications for democratic legitimacy. The study points to the need for regulatory frameworks and media literacy initiatives and highlights the role of digital actors in spreading disinformation.Kartini et al. analyze voter decision-making processes in Indonesia's 2024 general election using a qualitative approach. The study identifies multiple decision-making models, ranging from heuristic-based and identity-driven choices to more deliberative processes. The findings highlight the importance of digital media environments in shaping how voters process political information. The prevalence of heuristic and semi-open decision-making suggests that voters often rely on simplified cues and emotional appeals, which are characteristic of influencer communication. This contribution provides insight into the cognitive mechanisms that may underlie the impact of political content disseminated through social media.Mikola offers a direct examination of political influencers in the context of the 2022 Hungarian general election. The paper analyzes how the governing party Fidesz incorporated progovernment influencers into its campaign strategy, using Facebook advertising data to assess their reach and effectiveness. The findings indicate that influencer-based communication was less efficient in targeting specific audiences but was compensated by large-scale spending and a broad dissemination strategy described as "carpet bombing." The study demonstrates how political actors strategically integrate influencers into campaign infrastructures and exploit their perceived authenticity, while also highlighting the importance of platform-specific dynamics and regulatory environments.Finally, De Sio et al. present a mixed-methods research design aimed at studying the influence of social media on political attitudes across generations in Italy. The project integrates surveys, qualitative interviews, and social media data, including content produced by influencers, to analyze how political attitudes are structured in a fragmented media environment. By linking individual-level data with exposure to specific social media actors, the study advances methodological approaches for capturing the role of influencers in shaping political attitudes. It also emphasizes generational differences in media consumption and political engagement, pointing to the growing importance of influencer-driven communication.The contributions in this Research Topic demonstrate that political influencers play a multifaceted role in electoral campaigns, affecting political efficacy, participation, emotional engagement, and information flows. Based on their findings, we may expect that political influencers affect the political attitudes and voting behavior of young followers due to their simplified and emotional messaging, which effect is further exacerbated when used in combination with AI-driven disinformation or paid advertising. At the same time, they reveal important gaps in our understanding, particularly regarding causal mechanisms, long-term effects, and the interaction between different types of digital actors. These challenges are likely to become more pronounced considering recent regulatory developments. The phasing out of political advertising by major platforms such as Meta and Google in the European Union since October 2025 is expected to significantly alter the dynamics of digital campaigning. As opportunities for paid political advertising become more limited, political actors are likely to rely increasingly on forms of communication that are less directly regulated, including organic engagement through influencers and content creators. This shift has important implications for future research. First, it justifies shifting the current research focus on paid advertisement towards organic reach, engagement metrics, and algorithmic visibility. Second, it raises questions about transparency, accountability, and the boundaries between political communication and personal expression. Third, it highlights the need for comparative research across different regulatory contexts, particularly between the European Union and other regions. Future research should therefore adopt longitudinal and mixed-method approaches capable of capturing the evolving role of political influencers in rapidly changing media environments. By integrating insights from political communication, sociology, and data science, scholars can develop a more comprehensive understanding of how influencer-driven communication shapes democratic processes.