The Libertarian National Committee has voted to authorize the creation of an ad hoc Social Media Committee, which will operate under the direct supervision of the party’s communications and public relations contractor and control the party’s official social accounts.
The motion was proposed in late June by LNC Chair Steven Nekhaila and went to a ballot that closed last week. According to results, the proposal passed by a vote of 10–5–0–2. There were no abstentions, although At-Large Representative Robert Vinson, Region 5 Representative Otto Dassing, and Region 6 Representative Pat Ford did not vote. Ford’s alternate, Ben Weir, voted in favor of the motion on behalf of the region.
The committee will be chaired by Brian McWilliams, the party’s current communications and public relations director. McWilliams has held the role since 2023, when he was brought on by then-Chair Angela McArdle as a contractor to assist with brand strategy, messaging, media outreach, and crisis communications. Notably, the motion refers to him as the Communications and Public Relations Contractor, though he is listed as a “Director” on the party’s website.
McWilliams will have sole authority to appoint as many members to the committee as he deems necessary. The identities of these members will not be publicly disclosed, including to members of the LNC, and will be known only to the party’s executive director, Chair Nekhaila, and the members of the committee itself. McWilliams also holds full discretion to appoint or remove committee members.
The Social Media Committee will be responsible for all official posts across the Libertarian Party’s social media accounts, including X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Only committee members will have access to these platforms, with permissions granted at McWilliams’ discretion in his role as the director.
I dare say that a *contractor* who has exclusive control over the social media accounts, including who gets authorized to post on said accounts, is a potentially dangerous situation. All we need is one p-o’d contractor for whatever reason, and the party’s accounts are essentially hijacked.
Has someone made an LP org chart yet? We need one to keep track of all of this.
Why should they keep the members of the committee secret? It doesn’t sound good to me.
Great, so unelected bureaucrats beholden to a single individual.