Forget About Online Groypers. Instagram Influencers Will Be The Real Death Of AmericaBy: Kylee Griswold
January 29, 2026
The Instagram army is motivated and militant — but they’re not informed.
Remember just three months ago, when conservatives self-immolated over a smarmy little twerp named Nick Fuentes, who was supposedly going to be the downfall of the conservative movement because he was being platformed?
It went a little something like this. Fuentes identifies as part of the so-called “right” but holds some gross and wholly unconservative views about Jews, nonwhite folks, and ladies. So the self-appointed gatekeepers of the right decided nobody was allowed to talk to him, and instead you had to denounce him. Not only that, but you also had to actively denounce anybody who did talk to him. And if your ritual recitations weren’t guttural and theatrical enough to appease the gatekeepers, you were painted as a threat not only to conservatism but probably to the future of the country.
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The Fuentes hysteria looks especially stupid now — first because of a new report from Eric Kaufman at the University of Buckingham Center for Heterodox Social Science showing just how weak Fuentes’ influence really is…
Just 3 percent of adults and 7 percent of Trump voters under thirty-five tune in regularly [to Fuentes’ show]. Another 4 percent of young Trump voters occasionally consume his content. … [T]he effect and scale of the problem is limited. … The Groypers’ power is overstated…
… and second, because we’re once again experiencing a flare-up of a phenomenon with way more power than Nick Fuentes and frog memes have ever had: low-information Instagram performance posting.
It’s everywhere — from IG mommy accounts; food, fashion, and fitness influencers; nurses, nutritionists, and doulas; “deconstructionist” and progressive Christian pages; AWFULs (affluent white female urban liberals) who believe their silence would be literal violence; brand accounts that should have nothing to do with politics; and every other random acquaintance you’ve ever had who gets her news from Instagram reels and sourceless but effortlessly sharable graphics.
The information is low, but the emotion is high.
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Source:
https://thefederalist.com/2026/01/29/forget-about-online-groypers-instagram-influencers-will-be-the-real-death-of-america/
