- Thousands of influencers and content creators have requested press credentials from the White House. The administration under President Donald Trump will open space for anyone creating “legitimate news content, no matter the medium” in its press briefings.
Ring lights and cell-phone tripods are coming to the White House.
Within 24 hours of the White House announcing it would open press briefings to content creators and podcasters, more than 7,400 influencers applied for press credentials, Bloomberg reported. The White House said it would increase the number of “new media voices” with access to press briefings as a way to reach young people and other demographics consuming news media from nontraditional sources like newspapers and television.
“Whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster—if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium—you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a press briefing Wednesday.
Young Americans have increasingly relied on social media to stay informed about the news. Overall, more than half of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get news from social media, according to the Pew Research Center. From 2020 to 2024, the percentage of adults who consume news from TikTok increased from 3% to 17%, according to Pew. About 45% of those who consume news on TikTok are between the ages of 18 and 29, and another 38% are between 30 and 49.
But as larger audiences use social media as a main news source, there's greater likelihood of them finding—and legitimizing—misinformation. A BBC investigation from June 2024 found TikTok users in election battleground areas of the U.K. were shown recommended videos of conspiracies and AI-generated content promoting baseless claims about certain candidates.
Young people are particularly susceptible to believing falsehoods. According to results from a misinformation susceptibility test developed by the University of Virginia, 18- to 29-year-olds were significantly less likely to correctly identify bogus AI-generated news headlines than those 65 and older.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
How influencers drive the news
Even before President Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office, the White House was taking a growing interest in content creators. In August 2024, former President Joe Biden hosted about 100 influencers at White House, calling them “the future.”
“You’re the source of the news,” he said. “You are the new possibilities. You are the new breakthrough in how we communicate.”
For Trump, influencers not only represent the future of White House communications; they were also significant players in his reelection. Trump won 43% of votes from 18- to 29-year-olds in 2024, a 7% increase from the 2020 election. He capitalized on young male influencers like Jake and Logan Paul and Adin Ross, who have garnered fan bases of Gen Z men, a demographic which became increasingly conservative ahead of the election.
The president also gained the support of TikTok itself, pledging days before his inauguration to sign an executive order to give the platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance a chance to find a U.S. buyer. TikTok CEO Shou Chew thanked Trump in a video for his support of the company, and praised Trump’s own presence and content generation on the app, which he said generated more than 60 billion views.
Influencers’ support for Trump culminated in a TikTok-sponsored “Power 30 Awards” party the night before the inauguration, honoring conservative content creators who helped Trump secure his second term.
“There would be no celebration tonight if it weren’t for the commitment of our keyboard warriors,” Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump adviser and incoming media and influencer strategist, reportedly told the crowd. “Each and every one of you played a role in the historic landslide victory and the president is incredibly grateful…and we’re all going to celebrate soon at the White House.”
