It’s usually easy to identify paid political ads on TV with their flashy photos and dramatic text overlays, often punctuated with the phrase “I’m [candidate name], and I approve this message.” But when paid political content is posted by influencers in a more casual and seemingly organic way, it can be difficult to tell which posts are backed by someone seeking office.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-California) is shining a bright light on this issue with the Promoting Authenticity with the Influencer Disclaimer (PAID) Act he introduced last week.
The PAID Act would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, adding a section that would require any person who is paid by a federal political committee or candidate to include a disclaimer that they were paid to post the content.
Although the PAID Act does not cover groups like 501(c)(4)s and super PACs funded by dark money, Takano said he hopes to work on “either an amended version or introduce a separate piece of legislation that does address the (c)(4) issue.”
Trending
“Running for public office just several years ago, I would never have anticipated that we’d be talking about this new class of political players,” Takano told NOTUS. “This is clearly a new thing, and it’s exciting.”
Democrats on the Hill have expressed support for the measure, according to Takano, and he’s “optimistic” Republicans will get on board as well.
With the Alabama primaries just days away, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Alabama), who is running for Senate, filed an FEC complaint against Republican challenger Jared Hudson alleging that he coordinated with eight social media accounts for a “paid or otherwise compensated influencer-style communications effort.”
Moore’s complaint adds to the growing list of candidates calling for the FEC to investigate these pay-to-play schemes with content creators. Though federal law is murky on social media disclaimers for paid political content, some states have attempted to implement guidelines.
NOTUS reached out to several political influencers to get their thoughts on the legislation. They mostly embraced the push for disclaimers, but some creators were concerned about how the new policy will be enforced.
Allie O’Brien has amassed over 735,000 followers on TikTok posting about progressive issues, and she is in favor of adding disclaimers to paid content.
“If you are being paid by a candidate’s fund, I think there’s just no justifiable reason to not disclose that,” O’Brien told NOTUS. “It really just feels like wholly unethical to expect creators and consumers to be OK with a private flow of money.”
O’Brien, who’s been posting on TikTok since early 2021, said one of her main concerns is that Congress is too disconnected from the social media landscape to properly police the issue.
The exact details of enforcement have not been finalized, but Takano told NOTUS the “mere fact” that political creators could soon be subject to additional FEC regulations and investigations is a form of accountability “whether there’s a huge fine or not.”
Braeden Sorbo, a conservative content creator with over 2 million followers on TikTok, told NOTUS he supports adding disclaimers but thinks they should be displayed through labels on videos rather than verbal statements from creators.
“Frankly, it can ruin the flow of a video,” Sorbo said. “When it comes to content, especially short form, people lose interest within three seconds, and so if you’re required to say, ‘Oh, by the way, this is a paid partnership with so and so,’ then it just detracts from the video.”
Disclaimers must be “clear and conspicuous” regardless of the platform, according to the proposed bill text of the PAID Act. Takano said Sorbo’s concern is a detail he’s willing to address.
“I certainly understand the short-form issue, but you know what? Most political commercials are no more than 15 seconds, anyway, 15 to 30 seconds, often very, very brief,” Takano said.
Sorbo said he sees something similar to X’s community note mechanism being an effective way to enforce adding disclaimers. Through community notes, X can penalize creators by demonetizing posts and reducing visibility.
“I see that being a lot more effective than the government going in and mandating it,” Sorbo said.
Barrett Adair, a progressive content creator with more than 300,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram, said she is also in favor of Takano’s new federal election law.
“Influencer marketing has been a part of advertising for a long time now; though it’s newer to political campaigns, it’s a no brainer to me to treat it the same way you do a TV ad, billboard, or web banner for a campaign. Transparency is great for everyone,” Adair told NOTUS.
This issue has been under intense scrutiny in campaigns in Takano’s home state of California.
Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate activist who did not advance in the state’s gubernatorial primary, paid influencers hundreds of thousands to boost his candidacy. In 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that required individuals paid by political committees to include disclaimers in their posts. Since the influencers did not disclose their payments from Steyer, California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, the state’s agency for enforcing campaign finance laws, opened an investigation.
Steyer has defended the practice by arguing that nobody associated with his political operation reviewed posts in advance and that the influencers deserve to be paid for the work.
Steyer’s campaign wasn’t the only entity engaging in controversial interactions with content creators. Kalshi and Polymarket, two of the most prominent prediction markets, told influencers they paid to take down posts sharing conspiracy theories alleging that Democrats rigged the vote-counting process to knock out Republican candidate Spencer Pratt.
The pay-to-play scandals in California’s primaries are just the latest examples of political campaigns leveraging influencers to connect with voters online.
The Democratic National Convention credentialed more that 200 content creators to attend in 2024, part of an ongoing attempt to catch up with Republicans’ more fully formed alternative-media ecosystem. The creators’ dedicated spaces and interview access at the DNC rivaled the resources given to traditional media outlets.
The DNC did not respond to a request for comment about the push to add disclaimers to paid political content on social media.
Whether or not the PAID Act will upend traditional interactions between content creators and campaigns remains to be seen, but Takano is calling on political influencers to embrace the right to disclose these connections.
“I think creators should welcome the idea that they’re accountable for disclosing whether they’ve been paid, because what’s at stake is their credibility,” Takano said. “I think it’s a fundamental issue of fairness for their followers, and it’s a matter of integrity for the creators.”
Author
