Influencers Are Dominating Online Politics in the 2025 Federal Election

Our new report on the 2025 federal election is out, and the findings are striking.

Political influencers are reshaping how Canadians engage with politics online — and traditional media is losing ground fast. The candidates and parties that understood this shift early had a significant advantage. Those that didn't were playing a different game entirely.

The report documents how influencer-driven content outperformed traditional news coverage in reach and engagement across every major platform during the campaign. It examines the rise of partisan commentary channels, the decline of shared information spaces, and the implications for democratic accountability.

This is the latest in our ongoing research at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy on how technology is transforming Canadian democracy. The full report is available on our website.