Finley Williams

One mother posts a video of her older son suffering a medical emergency and another of her newborn with his private area exposed. Another mom who admits to sharing the content that garners the most views: “the bloody noses, or the broken arms, or the emergency room visit.” An aspiring mom-fluencer “[focuses] on strategy, posting consistently … attempting to capture viral content.” The teenage daughter of yet another vlogging family feels “relief” when her mother isn’t around.

The days of picking up the Sunday paper at a neighborhood newsstand, or even gathering around the television to catch the evening news, are fast disappearing. Young Americans are increasingly relying on social media platforms, where news influencers—not traditional legacy outlets—often hold sway over their news and information diets. Nearly 40 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, a cohort raised online, regularly consume information from news influencers—a higher share than any other age group.

In 2024, election officials, social media platform managers, and artificial intelligence developers were poised for an “AI apocalypse” that didn’t arrive. They feared that fake content would deceive voters and sway election outcomes. But the fakes that voters did run into—like the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary robocall imitating former President Joe Biden’s voice that told voters to wait until November to cast their ballots—had limited impact.