{"id":757,"date":"2026-05-19T22:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=757"},"modified":"2026-05-19T22:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:30:13","slug":"in-growing-fight-steyers-campaign-says-pro-becerra-influencers-didnt-disclose-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=757","title":{"rendered":"In growing fight, Steyer\u2019s campaign says pro-Becerra influencers didn\u2019t disclose pay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>In the latest escalation of a fight over the use of paid social media creators, Tom Steyer\u2019s campaign for governor filed a complaint Tuesday accusing influencers who posted content supportive of Xavier Becerra\u2019s campaign of failing to disclose that they had been paid, which is required by California law.<\/p>\n

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The complaint, filed with California\u2019s Fair Political Practices Commission, accuses Jay Gonzalez 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 the posts to acknowledge they had been sponsored by the campaign.<\/p>\n

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, though the complaint doesn\u2019t specify how the campaign knows Reed was paid. <\/p>\n

Reed and a talent agency that represents her did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The Becerra campaign maintained that it has not paid influencers who have created posts in support of the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the content you see online is entirely and purely organic,\u201d said Becerra spokesman Jonathan Underland.<\/p>\n

Becerra and Steyer have been the top two Democratic candidates in recent polling for the governor\u2019s race, with Becerra consistently maintaining a slight edge in those polls.<\/p>\n

The complaint by Steyer\u2019s campaign 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 had been paid to produce their posts.<\/p>\n

The campaign of the billionaire candidate for governor had previously disclosed payments to some influencers with large audiences, including one creator with the user name zayydante, who has 1.8 million followers on TikTok, and another with the user name littleyeg, who has nearly 350,000 followers on TikTok. The complaint filed last week said that both of these influencers failed to disclose that they had been paid by the campaign to produce content. <\/p>\n

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The complaint also highlighted several accounts created by user who don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

The influencers who filed the original complaint said they saw the newly filed complaint as an attempt by Steyer\u2019s campaign to deflect criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll he\u2019s done is attack his opponent instead of taking accountability for violating the law,\u201d said Kaitlyn Hennessy, one of the two influencers who filed the complaint against Steyer\u2019s campaign. Hennessy and the other influencer who filed the complaint both said they have not been paid by the Becerra campaign.<\/p>\n

In a post on Substack, Steyer defended his campaign\u2019s use of paid social media influencers and said that it had been transparent about their use.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery creator we compensate has been and will be publicly disclosed as required by law,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Under a California law passed in 2023, social media creators who create paid content on behalf of a political campaign are required to disclose in their post that the material was sponsored and who paid for it.<\/p>\n

The onus is on creators to provide the disclosure, but campaigns are required to notify influencers they hire of the requirement.<\/p>\n

Violation of the rules doesn\u2019t trigger criminal, civil or administrative penalties but the FPPC can take alleged offenders to court and ask a judge to force compliance with the law.<\/p>\n

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Social media creators who create paid content on behalf of a California political campaign are required to disclose that the material was sponsored and who paid for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nIn growing fight, Steyer\u2019s campaign says pro-Becerra influencers didn\u2019t disclose pay - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=757\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In growing fight, Steyer\u2019s campaign says pro-Becerra influencers didn\u2019t disclose pay - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Social media creators who create paid content on behalf of a California political campaign are required to disclose that the material was sponsored and who paid for it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=757\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T22:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"In growing fight, Steyer\u2019s campaign says pro-Becerra influencers didn\u2019t disclose pay\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T22:30:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4a618f86434620b613503b91e8451a01-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757\",\"name\":\"In growing fight, Steyer\u2019s campaign says pro-Becerra influencers didn\u2019t disclose pay - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4a618f86434620b613503b91e8451a01-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T22:30:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=757#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4a618f86434620b613503b91e8451a01-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4a618f86434620b613503b91e8451a01-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 28: (L-R) Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer attend \\\"Our Climate Future: A Forum with California's Next Governor\\\" on January 28, 2026 in Pasadena, California. 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