Democratic candidate Tom Steyer is under investigation by the California FPPC for allegedly failing to properly disclose campaign payments for social media.
SACRAMENTO, Calif — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer is under investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission over allegations that his campaign failed to properly disclose payments for campaign-related social media content.
The video in question features influencer Isaiah Washington, known online as “Zay-Dante,” who was paid $10,000 by the Steyer campaign, according to campaign filing records. Washington, who is also named in the FPPC complaint for not disclosing that he was paid, interviewed Steyer in the video about campaign points.
The Instagram video is disclosed as a paid partnership, though a now-deleted TikTok version did not include that disclosure. It is not clear whether the disclaimer was added after the FPPC filings.
Steyer told ABC10 that he doesn’t pay content creators for endorsements, just for their time.
“That means we pay them for doing work. They choose what do to. They endorse us because they believe in our platform, or they don’t endorse us,” Steyer said,
In 2023, California passed a law requiring content creators to disclose if they have been paid by a campaign or political committee.
Steyer maintains his campaign has been transparent in disclosing that it paid Washington and multiple other influencers thousands of dollars.
But the two people who filed the complaint, who are also content creators, argue it is up to the Steyer campaign to explicitly tell influencers they must disclose payments. They said they noticed patterns in numerous online posts.
“It was all very pro-Steyer, anti-Becerra,” said Kaitlyn Hennessy, a content creator.
“They were not disclosing on posts that they were making about Tom Steyer, and they were completely ignoring the law, the Political Reform Act of California,” said Beatrice Gomberg, a content creator.
Hennessy and Gomberg are Xavier Becerra supporters, which Steyer has questioned. But they said their support for Becerra is independent from their complaint against Democratic opponent Tom Steyer, and that they are not paid by Becerra’s team to post pro-Becerra content.