The political ads that don’t look like ads

Elon Musk has spent about $366 million trying to shape the US midterms, but online political influence can now cost as little as $25. Across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, political groups are paying content creators to make videos that look like personal opinion rather than paid campaign messaging. And that means often, there is no obvious clue on your feed about who paid for it. For example, earlier this year, the Democratic-aligned project Bullhorn used a marketplace called SideShift to offer creators $25 per video about the cost of living crisis. A New York Times analysis identified more than 100 accounts taking part and found that few disclosed they had been paid. The model is not confined to Democrats. Another campaign offered creators $1.50 per thousand views to cut and post videos supporting Mike Minogue, the Republican nominee for Massachusetts governor. Traditional political ads usually carry disclaimers about who paid for them. It's morning again in America and under the leadership of President Reagan our country is prouder and stronger and better. Why would we ever want to return to where we were less than four short years ago but this clipping for politics system lacks obvious transparency and can dupe and influence voters without them even knowing it's happening and in an election increasingly fought through a scroll the question is no longer only who paid for the ad, it is whether you even know you are watching one.