The influencer-intellectual tactic and social media advertisements: How PragerU advances partisan knowledge

Abstract

Right-wing think tanks are a major source of partisan knowledge. Their influence is rooted in their strategic hybridity, namely their ability to use the resources of fields outside politics to promote their partisan messages. This strategic hybridity is especially powerful in relation to the academy, as arguments can be framed with the trappings of scholarship without first passing muster in the scholarly community. This article documents how strategic hybridity has deepened online as the organization PragerU embraces a new tactic—the influencer-intellectual—and a new genre—social media ads—to advance its right-wing cause. To illustrate this new complexity, I analyze ads PragerU ran on Meta platforms that attacked the 1619 Project and had at least 20 million impressions. Beyond reconceptualizing hybridity, I review the shortcomings of Meta’s Ad Library while making the case for its value in tracking the spilling of partisanship from formal politics into culture.