Excerpt from Peter Schurman’s Let’s Include Everyone, exploring future possibilities for global governance in a liquid democracy world:

One final form of power that may be abused is often called “star power”: the ability of famous individuals to command attention. Consider a scenario in which a celebrity exploits their fame to call for liquid democracy proxies, then uses those proxies to vote in ways that undermine the public interest.

We have plenty of recourse in this situation. First, proxies can be revoked and reassigned instantly, as voters see the celebrity voting against their interests. As noted above, depending on a design choice, voters may also be able to directly reverse votes cast by the celebrity proxy.

Most importantly, the entire citizenry is highly empowered, through liquid democracy, to participate directly in formulating and approving policy. Nobody is shut out. This will help counterbalance the power of celebrities.