{"id":793,"date":"2026-05-21T22:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=793"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:30:13","slug":"influencer-files-complaint-against-steyer-campaign-alleging-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=793","title":{"rendered":"Influencer files complaint against Steyer campaign, alleging violations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>A political influencer has filed a complaint against Tom Steyer\u2019s campaign for governor, saying the committee failed to notify her of disclosure requirements, as required by law, when she was paid to meet with Steyer in March and later produced social media content from the meeting.<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s more, she said the Steyer campaign falsely accused her of posting paid content in support of Steyer\u2019s chief Democratic rival, Xavier Becerra, and failing to disclose it in a complaint filed by the billionaire\u2019s campaign this week.<\/p>\n

Maggie Reed, who regularly posts satirical takes on politics to roughly half a million followers on Instagram and TiKTok under the username mermaidmamamaggie, said she was actually paid by Steyer\u2019s campaign and signed an agreement that barred her from disclosing the payment.<\/p>\n

She posted, and later deleted, a video from her meeting with Steyer in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn plain terms: the Committee paid for political content, structured it to look like an ordinary creator\u2019s organic opinion, and used a non-disclosure agreement to keep the public from learning the truth,\u201d says the complaint, filed Thursday with California\u2019s Fair Political Practices Commission.<\/p>\n

Steyer\u2019s campaign disclosed in a campaign filing that it had paid the agency that represents Reed $5,000 for digital advertising, but didn\u2019t indicate that the payment was connected to Reed\u2019s meeting with Steyer or her production of content.<\/p>\n

The Steyer campaign said that while it did pay to meet with Reed, it left the decision of whether to create content entirely up to her.<\/p>\n

Since then, Reed has produced several videos expressing support for Becerra, the former California congressman and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, but she said that she was not paid to produce those videos and that they reflected her genuine support for Becerra\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

Becerra has been the top Democrat in recent polling in the race, maintaining a narrow edge over Steyer and a firm grip on one of the top two spots in the June 2 primary that would send him to the general election in November.<\/p>\n

Reed\u2019s complaint is the latest volley in a back and forth involving the use of paid influencers in the gubernatorial race.<\/p>\n

Two influencers who support Becerra \u2014 but were not paid by his campaign \u2014 filed a complaint last week saying that a number of influencers had created paid content in support of Steyer, but failed to disclose so in their posts.<\/p>\n

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Steyer\u2019s campaign then filed a complaint earlier this week in which it leveled accusations against Reed and another influencer named Jay Gonzalez, who is now a paid staffer on the Becerra campaign. The complaint alleges that Gonzalez made several pro-Becerra posts after joining the campaign and belatedly amended them to include disclosure that they were sponsored.<\/p>\n

The Becerra campaign has maintained that it does not otherwise pay influencers to produce content on its behalf.<\/p>\n

Steyer\u2019s complaint included screenshots of an email sent to Reed\u2019s talent agency by a gubernatorial campaign gauging her interest in producing paid content.<\/p>\n

While the screenshots produced in Steyer\u2019s complaint did not disclose who had sent the inquiry, Reed said in her complaint that the request had come from a staffer for the gubernatorial campaign of former Los Angeles Mayor and California State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa.<\/p>\n

Disclosure of paid political content by social media creators is required in California thanks to a law passed in 2023.<\/p>\n

Influencers themselves are required to disclose that a post they created was sponsored, but campaigns are required to notify them of the requirement.<\/p>\n

Violation of the law doesn\u2019t trigger civil, criminal or administrative penalties, but the FPPC has the right to take violators to court and request that a judge force compliance with the law.<\/p>\n

The agreement Reed signed with Steyer\u2019s campaign, which was attached to her complaint, indicated that she needed to follow all applicable state, federal and local laws, but made no specific mention of her requirement to disclose that content she produced was sponsored.<\/p>\n

The agreement did specify that Steyer\u2019s campaign might need to disclose the payment.<\/p>\n

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The influencer said Steyer’s campaign committee failed to notify her of her disclosure requirements, as required by law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nInfluencer files complaint against Steyer campaign, alleging violations - 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=793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Influencer files complaint against Steyer campaign, alleging violations - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The influencer said Steyer's campaign committee failed to notify her of her disclosure requirements, as required by law.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T22:30:13+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=\"4 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=793#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"Influencer files complaint against Steyer campaign, alleging violations\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T22:30:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793\"},\"wordCount\":736,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/287f6eea4261d93960ebb6aaae1f7db1-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793\",\"name\":\"Influencer files complaint against Steyer campaign, alleging violations - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/287f6eea4261d93960ebb6aaae1f7db1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T22:30:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=793#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/287f6eea4261d93960ebb6aaae1f7db1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/287f6eea4261d93960ebb6aaae1f7db1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Monterey Park, CA - May 13: Gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer hosts an \\\"LA Block Party,\\\" campaign event at East LA College in Monterey Park, CA on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. 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