News influencers are changing how Canadians stay informed — for better or worse
With fewer reporters and more creators, Canadians are turning to new voices for news
Amid viral dance trends and cute animal clips, social media feeds are seeing more and more of a new kind of content: news commentary from influencers.
Content creators have been seen standing shoulder-to-shoulder with traditional reporters at recent events like Sean (Diddy) Combs' trial, capturing content and sharing updates directly with their online audiences on platforms like Instagram and Tiktok.
These "news influencers" don't work in newsrooms and may have no formal journalism training. But their content — a mix of commentary, current events and reaction videos — is reaching people around the world. But as trust in traditional news outlets declines, experts caution it's important to not only know what they're talking about, but how they're sharing and framing it.
Toronto-based creator Frank Domenic Cirinna, 31, often takes a screenshot of a news article or report, explains what it says and offers his own take.
"If I see an article that I think I want to talk about because I have an opinion, I make a video about it," he said.
That approach has earned him millions of views and over 100,000 followers since he started posting daily in January 2022, during the convoy protests in Ottawa.
He's also clear that he isn't a journalist and his content isn't intended to be unbiased or balanced.
"I have a full-time job. When I'm done with my nine-to-five, after I've put my kids to bed and cleaned up the house, that's when I make my videos," said Cirinna, a teacher with a degree in business and economics.
News by timeline, not byline
According to a 2023 Statistics Canada report, more than one-third of Canadians got their news or information that year from social media accounts unaffiliated with government, scientific or news organizations. The report examined how shifts in information sources may fuel the spread of misinformation.
"We know people are getting their news and information about current affairs from a variety of sources, including social media influencers," said Elizabeth Dubois, a University of Ottawa professor and Canada Research Chair in politics, communication and technology.
"These influencers are often able to filter and frame current affairs in ways that resonate with the audiences they've built."
But while their content can be accessible, it might not follow the same standards for fairness or accuracy compared to a report from a trained and accredited journalist.
Without those standards, she said, it becomes harder for audiences to know what they can trust.
"There is a fear that the more we have content that looks like it's news but isn't news, the less anybody is going to feel comfortable trusting any news," Dubois said. "It just further undermines trust in our information environment."
Trading polished news for personal voices
Jaigris Hodson, Canada Research Chair in digital communication, acknowledges that many Canadians are turning to influencers not out of ignorance, but because they're looking for voices that feel authentic and speak to their lived experience.
This is especially true if they feel traditional media is disconnected or too polished.
"Influencers come across as more authentic, more on-the-ground and more trustworthy, because they're often speaking to you in a conversational way," she said.
Cirinna believes that perceived authenticity is a key reason audiences gravitate to creators like him.
"You've got to remember that at the end of the day, a news organization is a much larger beast than one individual. I'm just some guy and I have opinions," he said.
To Cirinna, the feeling that you're hearing from a real person, not an institution, is part of what makes influencers feel more relatable than traditional journalists.
"People get to know me as me," he said. "How many news broadcasters or journalists do we really get to know beyond them reading off the news?"
Seeing isn't always believing
But even when content feels trustworthy, Hodson warns that platforms are designed to surface what's most engaging — not necessarily what's most accurate.
"It's not just filtering for what you want to see. It's also filtering for you what they want you to see," she said.
In an environment where sensationalism and misinformation can spread as quickly as facts, Dubois and Hodson agree: audiences need to take a more active role in how they consume content.
That means thinking critically not only about whether something is true, but also why it's being shown, who benefits from us seeing it and what might be missing from the conversation.
"It means we have to do some digging into it and not accept it at face value," said Dubois.
Cirinna shares that concern, and says that responsible influencers should be encouraging their audiences to diversify their news intake.
"A good influencer will constantly tell you that they are not the only person you should listen to," he said. "If they're not encouraging you to go to mainstream media or to hear out different opinions, then they're probably operating in bad faith."
The backbone behind the feed
As the media landscape shifts and newsroom resources shrink, some influencers and independent journalists are stepping into roles to "fill that gap" traditionally filled by the press, Hodson said.
Unless they're doing their own reporting, however, even the most credible news influencer relies on the work of professional journalists and news organizations.
"I can't do what I do without people who work at the CBC and other places doing what they do," said Cirinna. "My job doesn't work without journalists doing the real work, the heavy lifting."
That relationship is exactly why, he says, influencers shouldn't be seen as a replacement for journalism.
That doesn't mean Canadians need to avoid influencers or abandon social media. But Hodson says that in a crowded and chaotic information environment, the responsibility to think critically is more important than ever.
"Slow down when you're on social media. Try to find other sources, follow up and see what you can do to verify something—especially if you're getting a strong emotional response to the information."