Influencer content is fuel for internet-obsessed management

Just one day after posting a 40-minute video alleging fraud at day care centers in Minnesota, Nick Shirley caught the attention of the vice president.

In Shirley’s video, he and another man named just “David” walk around Minneapolis with cameras and microphones, demanding entry to daycare centers they say are run by members of the local Somali community. With little evidence, Shirley accuses the centers of sweeping fraud, and links them to them Previous federal fraud cases Which is followed by the Joe Biden administration in the state of Minnesota. The men knock on doors, argue with workers who refuse them entry, and conduct man-on-the-street interviews, asking people if they have ever seen children in the centers.

The fraud Shirley claims to have found remains elusive. Following his video, state officials visited nine featured businesses and Found They were “operating as expected” with children as young as eight and one center not yet open. State officials He said He told reporters that previous investigations with some centers did not reveal evidence of fraud; They said four investigations are ongoing. Officials also said that one of the child care centers Shirley visited has been closed since 2022.

However, none of this stopped the video from going viral, or attracting the attention of President Donald Trump’s administration. “This guy has done a lot more useful journalism than any of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winners,” said J.D. Vance on X of Shirley, a 23-year-old right-wing content creator who bills himself as a citizen journalist. Shirley’s post on A few days after Shirley posted the video, federal agencies launched a child welfare fraud tip line, promising to prosecute violators “to the fullest extent of the law.”

Within days, Shirley’s video was used to spark a national news cycle. Donald Trump’s administration said it will freeze federal funding for child care in Minnesota, where there are local child care centers I mentioned Threats, break-ins and frightened families in the wake of the video. The administration said that thousands of federal agents will be deployed in Minneapolis. Shirley’s daycare stunt is one of many activities: In a previous video, he Day laborers are paid $20 To raise pro-Biden banners in front of the White House. His work — along with that of countless other influencers — is fodder for a content mill that now has a direct audience at the highest levels of power.

There’s never been a better time to be a far-right content creator. He built the truth empire Of online personalities, shows and outlets reaching millions of people across platforms, centered around Elon Musk’s X: a place where influencers, government officials and… Foreign bulldozers He mingle, and is supervised by the billionaire owner who aligns with them politically. Shirley and others like him are able to attract maximum attention and reaction — from officials with a penchant for publishing, like Vance and FBI Director Kash Patel, and by extension from everyone else who reacts to the news. Viral content becomes official government policy.

The line between influencer and politician is a thin one. Objection I mentioned The “David” in the video is David Hosch, who previously ran for Minnesota Attorney General and called Muslims “devils” on his now-deleted social media accounts. In the video, Hoch says the information he has is “100 percent accurate and comes directly from research done by people at the state Capitol”; Objection Relations between Hoch and a Republican staffer who appear in emails shown in Shirley’s video have been reported. Minnesota Rep. Lisa Demuth — a Republican running for governor — also He claimed to have worked with Shirley “To expose fraud.” Shirley initially denied knowing who Demuth was and accused her of “influence hunting” before quickly pivoting Wishing her success In her campaign. Shirley did not immediately respond to questions about whether he, Hoch or his team communicated with state and federal officials during the production of the video.

A viral post could grant an algorithmic hit and a quick response from the federal government. In October 2025, Savannah Hernandez, a creator aligned with Turning Point USA, posted, Short video On X shows merchants on Canal Street in New York City. “One of the migrants explained to me that they were working ‘without a license’ and if the police caught them, they would confiscate all their property,” Hernandez wrote. “Maybe @ICEgov should go check this angle out.” Shirley had made the same jibe earlier, in a YouTube video titled “I Encountered Dangerous Immigrant Scammers in New York City | Canal Street.”

A few days after Hernandez’s deployment, dozens of federal agents swept through the area in a raid targeting street vendors. Department of Homeland Security He said On the 10th, nine immigrants were arrested; Four US citizens were reportedly reported dead He is being held without federal charges. (Both Hernandez and Shirley participated in Event hosted by the White House on Antifa in October.)

Shirley from Minneapolis’ video takes a well-used format on YouTube and applies it to a high-profile situation that has been in the news for years. Shirley uses dramatic music to set the tone and an unpolished shooting style to make viewers feel like they’re there – and since they don’t see any children present, there must be a massive scam going on. Nuance, detail, emphasis, or follow-up don’t fit into a format that’s primarily measured by whether you get enough watch time to be able to monetize your video.

Influencers have replaced speakers on television news as megaphones for politicians’ messages and platforms. It’s cheap, fast, and smart — drop a clickbait video on platforms like X, which can then act like a hurricane maker to rile up the right. Influencers know that information doesn’t have to be new, true, or fair. It just needs to arrive at the right time and be promoted by the right people, at which point it may be picked up by traditional media, as the daycare story did. The Trump administration knows the influencer game well because its ranks do Full of them. That the boss and senior staff have X tabs open On a giant screen in a war room It tells us where they think politics and governance take place.

In December, Axios I posted a chart Visualize search interest throughout 2025 for dozens of trending news cycles: Jeffrey Epstein, Charlie Kirk, RealID, Cracker Barrel. Most of these topics peak when the news hits and then cascade — but some continue for months with intermittent spikes, such as searches for Gaza, Inflation, Labobus, and Israel. Demon hunters in kpop. If you rely on social media algorithms for your livelihood, your audience, or to maintain power, you must stay on track at all times and develop the ability to see the wave before it crashes.

If we chart the news cycles of 2026, “Somali daycare scam” might be one of those blips that flares up and then goes away. Whatever other widespread news events this year brings, we should expect to see those with power — elected and non-elected — swooping in and taking advantage before moving on to the next crisis. Each event would amount to “the worst scam in human history.” The goods will track. The Feds won’t be far behind.