WASHINGTON- In the latest escalation of a fight over the use of paid social media creators, Tom Steyer's campaign for governor filed a complaint Tuesday accusing influencers who posted content supporting Xavier Becerra's campaign of failing to disclose that they had been paid, which is required by California law.
However, one of the two accused influencers said that Becerra's campaign had not paid her to create posts supporting his candidacy.
The complaint, filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, accuses Jay González of producing at least 14 pro-Becerra posts on Instagram and Facebook in late April and early May, after he was hired by the campaign, and only belatedly editing them to acknowledge that they had been sponsored by the campaign.
The complaint also said 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.
The complaint alleges that Becerra's campaign failed to disclose payments to both influencers in its campaign documents.
But Reed said Becerra's campaign had not paid him for his posts.
“I never accepted nor was I offered any money from Xavier Becerra's campaign. I endorsed Becerra because of his policies and proven track record,” Reed said in a statement.
Becerra's campaign maintained that it has not paid influencers who have created posts in support of the campaign.
“All the content you see online is completely and purely organic,” said Becerra spokesman Jonathan Underland.
Becerra and Steyer have been the top two Democratic candidates in recent polls for the governor's race, with Becerra consistently maintaining a slight lead in those polls.
The Steyer campaign's complaint comes after two influencers who support Becerra filed a complaint last week accusing social media creators hired by Steyer's campaign of failing to disclose that they had been paid to produce his posts.
The billionaire gubernatorial candidate's campaign had 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 another with the username littleyeg, who has nearly 350,000 followers on TikTok. The complaint filed last week said both influencers failed to disclose that the campaign had paid them to produce content.
The complaint also highlighted several accounts created by users who do 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.
The influencers who filed the original complaint said they viewed the newly filed complaint as an attempt by Steyer's campaign to deflect criticism.
“All he's done is attack his opponent instead of taking responsibility for breaking the law,” said Kaitlyn Hennessy, one of two influencers who filed the complaint against Steyer's campaign. Hennessy and the other influencer who filed the complaint said they had not been paid by Becerra's campaign.
In a post on Substack, Steyer defended his campaign's use of paid social media influencers and said he had been transparent about their use.
“Every creator we compensate has been 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 post that the material was sponsored and who paid for it.
The onus is on creators to provide disclosure, but campaigns should notify the influencers they hire of the requirement.
Violation of the rules does not give rise to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, but the FPPC can take alleged violators to court and ask a judge to enforce the law.
