The Reform UK leader uses the energy of memes to fuel his popularity, but this should not distract us from the seriousness of his purpose Guardian investigation into Farage on Cameo Nigel Farage has spent the past five years upending politics, breaking the two-party hold on parliament, and apparently sending several Cameo videos a day to his paying customers, charging £374,893 overall. But the Reform UK leader’s side hustle isn’t separate from his political work: posting is politics now, which is why Farage loves to brag that he runs laps around other MPs on TikTok . Cameos are personalised messages, but they are not private – punters get a shareable link so they can post their anniversary wishes and birthday messages on social media. When Farage sent videos to a neo-Nazi group that used the videos for publicity, or described Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in language typically found in Pornhub categories, he was indeed making public statements. The defence from Farage’s team is that he can’t be held responsible for what people do with the messages he sends them, which is perhaps why most politicians don’t send personal endorsements to random people over the internet for money. His spokesperson said that Farage’s Cameo videos “should not be treated as political statements or campaign activity”. Robert Topinka is a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of London Continue reading...