In growing fight, Steyer’s campaign says pro-Becerra influencers didn’t disclose pay
WASHINGTON— In the latest escalation of the fight over the use of paid social media creators, Tom Steyer’s gubernatorial campaign filed a complaint Tuesday accusing influencers who posted content supporting Xavier Becerra’s campaign of failing to disclose that they were paid as required by California law.
The complaint, filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, accuses Jay Gonzalez of sharing at least 14 pro-Becerra posts on Instagram and Facebook in late April and early May after being hired by the campaign, and of belatedly editing those posts only to acknowledge that they were endorsed by the campaign.
The complaint also noted that a social media creator named Maggie Reed, who posts under the username mermaidmamamaggie, created four pro-Becerra posts on Instagram and had previously offered to create paid posts for another gubernatorial campaign, but the complaint did not say how the campaign knew Reed was being paid.
Reed and a talent agency that represents him did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Becerra campaign maintained that it did not pay influencers who created posts to support the campaign.
“All of the content you see online is completely organic,” Becerra spokesman Jonathan Underland said.
While Becerra and Steyer are the top two Democratic candidates in recent polls for the governor’s race, Becerra has consistently maintained a slight lead in those polls.
Steyer’s campaign’s complaint comes after two influencers who support Becerra filed a complaint last week accusing social media creators hired by the Steyer campaign of failing to disclose that they were paid to make their posts.
The billionaire gubernatorial candidate’s campaign previously disclosed payments to some influencers with large audiences, including a creator with the username zayydante, who has 1.8 million followers on TikTok, and a creator with the username littleyeg, who has about 350,000 followers on TikTok. The complaint filed last week said both of these influencers failed to disclose that they were being paid by the campaign to produce content.
The complaint also highlighted several accounts created by users who did not appear to live in California, who created posts promoting Steyer and, in at least one case, posted elsewhere that they had been paid by the campaign.
Influencers who filed the original complaint said they saw the new complaint as an attempt by Steyer to deflect criticism.
“All he did was attack his opponent instead of taking responsibility for violating the law,” said Kaitlyn Hennessy, one of two influencers who filed a complaint against Steyer’s campaign. Hennessy and the other influencer who filed the complaint said they were not paid by the Becerra campaign.
One Publish to SubstackSteyer defended his campaign’s use of paid social media influencers and said he was transparent about their use.
“Every creator we compensate has and will be publicly disclosed as required by law,” he wrote.
Under a California law passed in 2023, social media creators who create paid content on behalf of a political campaign must disclose in their posts that the material was sponsored and who paid for it.
The responsibility for disclosure lies with creators, but campaigns must inform the influencers they hire of this requirement.
Violation of the rules does not trigger criminal, civil or administrative penalties, but the FPPC can take alleged offenders to court and ask a judge to force them to comply with the law.
