How global politics affects affiliate marketing: key events that have impacted the industry

If you’ve ever thought that politics doesn’t affect the affiliate industry, you’ve been very wrong. Politics is much more important than you might imagine.

We recently wrote a special project on how the upcoming US elections could impact Facebook Ads. There, we touched on the political situation in the world, and today we continue to look at other details.

You know, a media buyer who doesn’t understand politics is a blind media buyer. Yes, it sounds sad, but it’s true. You don’t need to monitor every news story, but there are key events that will or are already impacting the industry in one way or another.

The impact of politics on the industry

Politics is something you can’t ignore. Even if you are not a politician or someone who is in any way involved in politics, it still impacts you.

The impact of political events on the industry varies. If we are talking about negative events (e.g., wars, sanctions, elections, internal conflicts, natural disasters, increased legislative activity, and tighter restrictions on a particular industry/activity), this is nothing new for arbitrageurs. Such situations occur very often and can significantly affect both traffic sources and the flooding process. 

Frequently, buyers have to change their GEO or completely rewrite their strategy. Although negative events do not always have a long-term impact, they are so strong that change is inevitable. 

Positive events include peace or trade agreements, deregulation of a particular sector, economic growth, etc. Unfortunately, good news is less common, but its effect is long-lasting, meaning that the so-called positive does not quickly fade away.

How should you follow the news?

Fortunately, we live in modern times and don’t need to run to the newsstand for newspapers.

There is a lot of information about the global situation on social media, but in order to avoid encountering false information (which is popular nowadays), we recommend choosing several verified sources.

The most convenient and probably the best way to follow the news is to subscribe to Telegram channels.

Here is our selection of Telegram channels with news about both Ukraine and the general global situation:

• Clash Report
• The New York Times
• The Washington Post
• Радіо Свобода
• hromadske
• Телебачення Торонто
• політ технолога
• Бізнич | Фінанси | Бізнес

Key political events in 2026

These are far from the calmest times in the political arena, so here are the key events to watch:

• The war in Ukraine. A bloody event that has been going on for more than a year. It has a strong impact on the lives of every Ukrainian and the country’s economy. There has been a lot of talk about its end, but so far to no avail. 
• Armed conflict between the US, Iran, and Israel. The situation is only getting worse, and many are already talking about the start of World War III. 
• The issue of Greenland, which could lead to another conflict. If this happens, it will affect sources and the Gulf of the US and Northern Europe.
• A possible invasion of Taiwan. They say it’s unlikely, but if war breaks out, working with the Asian market could change a lot.
• The US elections. It’s no secret that any major election means Facebook will be down for a while. We wrote a whole special project about this and looked at all the ways you can protect yourself from the storm and keep working without any problems.

To sum up

Staying out of politics is definitely not the way to go these days. The world is dynamic and, unfortunately, negative events unfold very quickly. You don’t have time to blink before another war has started somewhere.

Wars and any other interstate conflicts greatly impact the work of sources and other aspects of media buyers work. So you need to follow the news, even if only superficially.