Federal election 2025: Influencers flag intent to use press blackout in major moves against Coalition

West Australian

30-04-2025

Influencers with a political bent, and a dislike for Peter Dutton, are gearing up in their final push on social media to send their preferred party to parliament ahead of Saturday's vote.
The call to arms comes as the content creators have featured significantly in the lead-up to the Federal election, with Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton appearing on the some of the biggest accounts and podcasts in the past month.
The latest push is led by Cheek Media's Hannah Ferguson, who has called on her followers to share content which 'keeps Peter Dutton out' as TV and radio advertisements are forced to fall silent in the traditional media blackout starting tonight.
'This is the moment to have influence,' Ferguson said.
'We have a clear three days to distribute as much information as possible that keeps Peter Dutton out.' From midnight, the traditional media blackout begins, which means no political advertising will be allowed on television or radio for three days.
That blackout doesn't include other election tools, such as websites, social media, streaming services, robocalls and text messages — newspapers are also exempt.
According to Ferguson the blackout was 'crucial' because 'while radio and TV have to fall silent ... our messages, our influence, our impact is far greater and we have clear air to distribute the message we want to share'.
'This is the time to call the disengaged or withdrawn or unsure voters in your life,' she continued.
The anti-Dutton message is nothing new from Greens member and teal supporter Ferguson, who says she runs her social media accounts with the aim of engaging Australians in discourse around the news.
Cheek Media has 173,000 followers, while Ferguson's personal profile boasts 71,500.
She is not alone in taking politics to social media with a number of other platform-users surfacing this year, including influencers like Konrad Benjamin from Punter's Politics, reality-star turned-podcaster Abbie Chatfield, author Trisha Jha, Freya Leach and Joel Jammal.
Most of the influencers are left leaning, speaking to young voters on the platforms they use the most — Chatfield and Ferguson have emerged as faces of a national the Greens campaign against the Coalition. Leach and Jammal are the exceptions to the rule, spruiking conservative politics.
And with Gen Z and Millennials now making up the most powerful section of voters — there are 7.7 million of them, compared to 5.9 million Baby Boomers and 4.4 million in the Gen X category, according to the Australian Electoral Commission — the major parties have embraced the new wave.
The PM and Opposition leader have appeared with the many of the content creators, some of whom were even granted access to the tightly controlled Budget lock-in by the Albanese Government's team.
Others have received exclusive and unfettered access to the PM and Opposition leader than major traditional news outlets through long-form interviews, allowing the politicians to show a more personal side. Some of these interviews have faced criticism, namely around 'soft' questions and bias from a sympathetic interviewer, but they say they are not pretending to be impartial journalists.
Ferguson says she is 'transparent about her views'.
TikTok, Instagram and podcasts have been flooded with election content in the past month, something the blackout period won't stop.
These influencers will be able to continuing spreading their message online right up until the close of polls. However, the same goes for political hopefuls and the major parties hoping to harness the online trends to boost their message in a way which feels less like advertising and more like average social media use.