This priority was most on display during the Democratic National Convention last week. The Democratic Party brought about 200 “content creators,” or influencers mostly in their 20s with varying social media followings, to the convention and enticed them with free merchandise, seating, food and drink, exclusive interviews, and, of course, parties.

Criticism of the influencer approach has come especially in comparison to the limited privileges given to journalists at the DNC. In addition to seating and access discrepancies, concerns abound over influencers replacing actual journalists. It is not surprising to see Harris, with her running-mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), make untraditional and dishonest choices this election season. But, just like a refusal to speak with the press has implications other than policy emptiness, the campaign’s heavy reliance on influencers does more than ruffle journalists’ feathers.

Political content on social media certainly does reach viewers: Millions of users report TikTok as a regular news source, and it is more than likely a majority of these consumers are young people. While both Harris’s and former President Donald Trump’s campaigns are active presences on social media, one sends a particular message in doing so. 

Namely, Harris and Walz communicate that superficiality is key to their win in November. Influencers have received a significant amount of the Democratic Party’s focus, both in effort and resources, while Harris has avoided every chance for an unscripted interview. It is the choice of a shallow, distant representation of Harris’s candidacy over one she could fill with authentic character and policy substance. 

The Democrats are entirely fine with this route, although it is troubling. Just as young people are forming some of their earliest political assessments, they are barraged with absolutely the wrong way to go about doing so. Sure, part of it is their fault for being chronically online — but it is a conscious decision to parade a meaningless and insincere campaign before impressionable youth.

Beyond the political information they receive, young people online are going to be hurt by the amount of social media content they consume. The connection between social media and youth mental health is clearly defined as negative by those as high-ranking as the surgeon general. While it is not worth arguing whether or not political campaigns are on TikTok at all, their mode of presence is up for scrutiny. 

Harris and her staff are not the primary content creators in question: They encourage, maybe even pay, influencers to create content with a certain brand, a certain fanatical element. Young people are highly susceptible to vicious comparisons of themselves with their peers. If they are already sadder than their conservative counterparts, young liberals will not benefit from seeing the hyper-attractive lives of the influencers they follow. This effect applies to any realm of social media use, but it is particularly unacceptable when manipulated by a campaign that claims to benefit them. 

As Harris and Walz overdo the “joy” veneer, they saddle their young followers with a far less temporary sadness. It confuses their message. Likewise, commitment to these young social media influences obfuscates their message on abortion. Harris might want to “restore reproductive freedom” for people “just trying to grow a family,” but how the Democrats appeal to the youth tells a different story. 

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One “creator party” at the DNC involved an abundance of free condoms and other birth control, which were all printed with Democratic slogans decrying the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. Attendees cheered on the freedom to fornicate with whomever, whenever before the Trump administration revokes it. 

There is no coherence between Harris’s attempt at a heartfelt, family-and-woman-focused abortion argument and the spiteful, free-love angle her party supports elsewhere. Rather, it is harder and harder to ignore Harris’s blatant cover for real, radical positions.