“At the end of the day, this is a major political party targeting a private citizen, and the power imbalance there should raise serious alarm bells.”
MacAlpine has an online following of 120,000 on TikTok and 29,000 on Instagram, posting under the handle HollyUnmuted. She is among influencers who have emerged as new players in the election cycle, introducing a new wave of political communications through social platforms, with media personalities giving their audiences direct access to political figures and perspectives.
MacAlpine’s content reaches hundreds of thousands of Australians, many of whom are young voters engaging with politics for the first time, she said. Altering her post made a mockery of young people, she added, and showed a “deep lack of respect” for the views of young Australians trying to engage in politics, and in particular young women demanding to be taken seriously in political conversations.
However, the rising influence of online personalities, and Australians viewing political messages through social media, have blurred the lines between news media and social content – the latter unbound by media codes or ethics such as impartiality, with a perception it can lead to “softball” interviews or politically partisan content. It has fed further perceptions that some content is more collaborative with politicians than objective, in turn testing Australia’s electoral laws.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) cleared podcast host and influencer Abbie Chatfield over potential breaches of electoral laws after interviews with Labor and Greens leaders Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt, investigating whether the content should have had an authorisation message attached.
Chatfield has urged her followers and listeners to preference the Greens on their ballot papers, and position Labor ahead of the Liberal Party. This month, it was also revealed that independent MP Allegra Spender and funding vehicle Climate 200 paid Milly Rose Bannister to create content without clearly flagging it had been paid for. The Liberal Party wrote to the AEC, questioning some of Bannister’s posts.
In March, influencers were allowed into the Federal Budget lock-up in Canberra for the first time, and it later emerged that the Labor Party had covered some of their travel expenses.
Australia’s electoral laws require a clear disclosure if content is authorised by an official political party; however, authorisation is not required by news media outlets.
Olympic diver Sam Fricker, who has 2.1 million TikTok followers, has turned his online success toward political content, interviewing Opposition leader Peter Dutton and energy minister Chris Bowen. Over the weekend, he posted content from a coming interview with Trumpet of Patriots chair, billionaire Clive Palmer.
Fricker flew to the mining magnate’s Palmer Coolum Resort, currently being renovated, at his own expense. However he told this masthead he stayed at the resort free of charge, which was not disclosed in the content. The content features multiple images of Trumpet of Patriots posters, despite being labelled as business content.
