Should Christians follow influencers who don't share their values?

It's tempting to want a clean rule here: follow only Christians, unfollow everyone else. But Scripture doesn't actually call believers to isolate themselves from everyone who thinks differently. Paul reminded the Corinthians that avoiding all contact with immoral or unbelieving people "would need to go out of the world" (1 Corinthians 5:9-10). Jesus himself was known for eating with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10-11), engaging with people whose lives looked nothing like his own values.

So the question isn't really "can I follow someone who doesn't share my values," since Christians have always lived among, worked with, and learned from people who don't. The better question is what following does to you over time, given how differently a passive social media feed functions compared to a real, two-way relationship.

Following an influencer isn't like having a conversation with a coworker who disagrees with you; it's closer to inviting a voice into your head on a daily, repeated basis, often with no pushback, no accountability, and an algorithm actively working to show you more of whatever keeps your attention. That's a very different kind of exposure than an occasional interaction with someone unlike you.

Proverbs 13:20 warns, "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm." "Walking with" implies ongoing, formative closeness, not a single encounter. Regularly consuming someone's content, absorbing their opinions on life, morality, and worth day after day, functions much more like walking with them than like a passing conversation.

David wrote, "I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless" (Psalm 101:3), a personal commitment about what he'd allow to become familiar and normalized in his sight. Philippians 4:8 gives a positive filter: whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable. These aren't verses about literal blindness to the world's existence; they're about deliberate curation of what you dwell on repeatedly.

This doesn't mean you can only follow accounts that agree with you theologically. It means being honest about content that consistently glamorizes what Scripture calls sin, mocks faith, or normalizes attitudes that would trouble you if a close friend modeled them for your kids. There's a real difference between following a chef, an athlete, or a comedian whose faith differs from yours and following an account whose entire brand is built on values Scripture condemns.

Romans 14 gives believers freedom to make different calls on disputable matters based on conscience, and this is genuinely one of those areas; two mature Christians might land differently on the same account. What matters is asking honestly: does following this person increase my compassion and understanding of people unlike me, or does it slowly erode my convictions and desensitize me to what God calls sin?

It also matters what you do with what you follow. Simply being aware of a public figure's views is different from actively participating in the affirmation economy of likes, comments, and shares that boosts content contrary to your values (Ephesians 5:11).

It's worth acknowledging that this question doesn't land the same way for every believer. A mature Christian with a settled theology and years of discernment can often engage a wider range of voices without being destabilized, weighing what's said against Scripture almost automatically. A younger believer, or a teenager still forming their convictions, is far more vulnerable to quietly absorbing an influencer's values as their own without realizing it's happening (1 Corinthians 3:1-2 speaks of believers who could handle only milk, not solid food).

This is a good reason for parents and mentors to talk openly with younger believers about who they follow and why, not as a heavy-handed rule but as ongoing discipleship. Helping someone develop the discernment to ask these questions for themselves is more valuable in the long run than simply handing down a list of approved and forbidden accounts.

Periodically audit your feed and ask the Psalm 139:23-24 prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart," specifically about who you follow. If an account consistently leaves you more cynical, more envious, more desensitized to sin, or quietly less interested in the things of God, that's a signal worth heeding regardless of how talented or entertaining the person is. Following isn't neutral; it's an ongoing invitation into your attention, and Scripture calls you to steward that invitation wisely.