\nClick here to read highlights from the story<\/p>\n
Social media videos started popping up earlier this year with users complaining about the cost of living in Green Bay, other cities in Wisconsin and other battleground states.\u00a0
\nThe people posting the videos make claims that run the gamut \u2013 some factual, some misleading and some totally false.\u00a0
\nWisconsin Watch and Sunlight Research Desk looked into the trend, but couldn\u2019t determine who \u2013 if anyone \u2013 was paying the creators to make the videos.\u00a0
\nIf the videos were paid for, creators not disclosing that paid relationship could be in violation of federal prohibitions on deceptive advertising, one political advertising expert said.\u00a0
\nRepublicans and Democrats are increasingly paying for user-generated content, raising questions about the future of election campaigning in the digital age.<\/p>\n
In May, TikTok user @lifewithjacob1 uploaded a 20-second video blasting Green Bay\u2019s rent prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is rent in Wisconsin so expensive right now?\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m on a website looking for a new spot. I can\u2019t find anything under $4,000 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He went on to post more than 100 more, bemoaning skyrocketing prices for gas, housing and even dinner at Culver\u2019s. Almost every video on the account, which was created in May, focused on how expensive life is in Green Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The problem? Many of the videos seem to be pure fiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just that the average rent in Green Bay is a quarter of what he claims, according to July figures from Zillow. It\u2019s also that his name isn\u2019t Jacob, and it\u2019s unclear if he\u2019s ever lived in Wisconsin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through a reverse image search, Wisconsin Watch and Sunlight Research Desk identified the man in the videos as Connor Printz, a self-described \u201cuser-generated content creator\u201d who gets paid by brands to make social media posts that don\u2019t look like ads. It\u2019s a burgeoning industry, and one that many Americans may never have heard of \u2014 though they\u2019ve likely seen these kinds of posts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This model is spreading nationwide as dark money groups try to sway voters stealthily by hiring social media creators to push their agendas. Wisconsin Watch and Sunlight Research Desk identified more than a dozen users publishing near-identical messaging about the cost of living in battleground states \u2014 claims that oscillate between factual, misleading and downright false.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The videos targeting Wisconsin don\u2019t mention specific political parties or candidates, but they\u2019re strikingly similar to videos where creators in other states supported or knocked certain candidates \u2014 part of what MS NOW called a \u201csecret paid influencer campaign<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear who, if anyone, is funding the videos about Green Bay and Wisconsin, or what the goal is. Printz declined to answer questions, and the videos and biography on his account have since been deleted, a phenomenon common with short-term social media campaigns.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The videos themselves do not indicate whether they were paid for. If they were, one political advertising expert said, creators not disclosing that paid relationship could violate federal prohibitions on deceptive advertising. The trend raises questions about the future of political campaigning and the reforms needed to protect elections in the modern age.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, though many of the statistics the creators shared are false \u2014 Green Bay is often hailed as a particularly affordable city<\/a> \u2014 the posts speak to a question increasingly on Americans\u2019 minds, one that could prove pivotal in upcoming elections: Why is everything so expensive?<\/p>\n Making money on misinformation?<\/p>\n To try to understand who is behind the Green Bay videos, Wisconsin Watch and Sunlight Research Desk researched creators using public records databases, scoured campaign finance records, conducted reverse image searches, interviewed elected officials representing the city and compiled more than 5,000 videos.<\/p>\n Among the findings: The person shaking his head disapprovingly over the high cost of living in northeast Wisconsin is a former college basketball player turned social media creator whose LinkedIn profile says he\u2019s based in Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n While @lifewithjacob1\u2019s TikTok bio said he was \u201cGreen Bay born and raised,\u201d his Claremont McKenna College basketball webpage<\/a> says he\u2019s from Waterbury, Connecticut, and attended high school in Connecticut and Massachusetts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Printz claimed to live in Green Bay and sometimes referred to moving from California to Wisconsin in TikTok videos posted under the @lifewithjacob1 account. Wisconsin Watch and Sunlight Research Desk found no evidence he has ever lived in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n Today, according to his LinkedIn, Printz works as a user-generated content creator through SideShift, a platform where organizations hire content creators. His account states he manages between six and 10 social media accounts at a time, \u201ccompleting campaigns for brands.\u201d SideShift did not respond to Wisconsin Watch\u2019s questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the American Marketing Association, user-generated content is \u201csponsored content that looks and feels like genuine customer posts.\u201d While the person on screen has likely received payment or free products, the videos are meant to feel like they\u2019re ranting or raving about something of their own accord. It\u2019s typically a cheaper way to advertise than making sponsorship deals with high-profile influencers or celebrities.\u00a0<\/p>\n When those posts endorse or recommend brands, products or services, federal law<\/a> and platform policies<\/a> require they be labeled as ads or sponsored content. TikTok did not respond when Wisconsin Watch asked if its policies require such disclosures for videos like Printz\u2019s.<\/p>\n Political organizations are increasingly buying this form of content, eager to leverage its authentic \u2014 and often undetectable \u2014\u00a0 feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both political parties are hiring influencers to build online enthusiasm for their candidates. Democrats have poured tens of millions of dollars into these secret influencer campaigns since their 2024 election defeat, according to a New York Times report.<\/a> The influencer firm Creator Grid, which has received funds from the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, boasts connecting \u201cRepublican candidates with the internet\u2019s most powerful conservative influencers,\u201d the Times reported<\/a>.\u00a0 This election cycle, MS NOW reported that influencers received payment to post favorable content about politicians in California<\/a> and Michigan<\/a> and attack a candidate in Illinois.<\/a><\/p>\n Wisconsin Watch and Sunlight Research Desk found similar videos about the cost of living in cities across the country: La Crosse. Milwaukee. Madison. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Charlotte, North Carolina. Atlanta, Georgia. Many of the users creating these videos have similar usernames, including @rantswithsaum, @rantswithcarlyy or @rants.with.k. Wisconsin Watch contacted several of the users behind the accounts but none responded.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear who paid for the videos Wisconsin Watch identified. The Sunlight Research team searched spending records for registered political action committees and political candidates in key swing states but found no evidence of payments to the influencers or influencer platforms tied to these videos. And while Wisconsinites will elect a new governor in November, spokespeople for candidates David Crowley and Tom Tiffany both said they had not paid for or even seen the videos in question.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is clear is that this type of political content is in demand: Wisconsin Watch found a listing on SideShift from \u201cProject Bullhorn\u201d offering creators $1,500 monthly to \u201cspeak on the rising crisis of affordability in the United States ahead of the 2026 midterms.\u201d Project Bullhorn is one of several influencer efforts the New York Times reports<\/a> Democratic donors are funding. A leader of the initiative declined to answer questions from Wisconsin Watch on the record.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018More expensive than NYC\u2019<\/p>\n From May through July, Printz posted roughly two videos a day about Green Bay\u2019s cost of living.<\/p>\n In May, he claimed gas prices in Green Bay soared to almost $7 a gallon. While the Iran war has driven fuel prices up, prices at local pumps peaked this spring around $4.50 a gallon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIs Green Bay, Wisconsin, actually more expensive than New York City?\u201d Printz asked in a June video, recounting the experience of a friend who purportedly moved from the Big Apple to Packerland, anticipating a lower cost of living.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGuess what? It was just as expensive. Rent prices were crazy. Gas was crazy. Culver\u2019s is so expensive, more than almost every restaurant in New York City,\u201d Printz said.<\/p>\n In another video, he said tuition at Wisconsin colleges now cost $70,000 annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJust makes you question if it\u2019s worth it now,\u201d reads text on the video of Printz repeatedly shaking his head. According to CollegeBoard data, Wisconsin\u2019s public universities charged in-state students $10,600 on average in 2025.<\/p>\n In addition to the overblown numbers, locals might spot other faux pas. In one video, Printz asks for feedback from his \u201cfellow Wisconsiners,\u201d a term that would make any self-respecting Wisconsinite cringe.\u00a0<\/p>\n Green Bay resident Allyson Brunette started seeing the videos pop up in her TikTok feed around May. The inaccuracies were obvious, she said, especially the part about $4,000 rent.\u00a0<\/p>\n What was less obvious was where all these videos came from. She clicked on the creators\u2019 profiles and discovered that not only did they often follow each other, but some of the users following them were making parallel videos elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt seemed that there was almost this network of these avatars with similar usernames and almost identical content in different cities and states across the U.S.,\u201d said Brunette, who wrote to Wisconsin Watch in May about her suspicions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, am I nuts? I think this is a coordinated effort,\u201d Brunette said in a July interview. \u201cWhat immediately struck my mind, as someone who\u2019s 38 and lived through the Facebook misinformation of the last few elections, was: Is this gearing up to shift political (opinions) before the gubernatorial election?\u201d<\/p>\n Brunette isn\u2019t the only TikTok user raising the alarm about these types of claims. On many of Printz\u2019s videos, commenters called out misinformation and offered the facts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObvious rage bait,\u201d wrote one user in response to the claim that Green Bay is more expensive than New York City.<\/p>\n \u201cLiterally nothing you said is true,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n Is it legal?<\/p>\n Experts say this novel influence model seems to test the limits of laws governing campaign finance and advertising.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christopher Terry is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Minnesota who studies political advertising. He told Wisconsin Watch these types of videos could potentially violate state and federal law, even if they don\u2019t mention candidates, parties, elections or products.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Paid posts are a form of commercial speech, which is not subject to the same First Amendment protections as standard political speech, Terry said. If creators don\u2019t disclose that they were paid to create posts, that could violate the Federal Trade Commission prohibition on deceptive practices, Terry said, though he noted the agency has not enforced that policy against social media influencers to date.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has warned a bunch of them. It has threatened a ton of them, but it has not actually brought an enforcement action against any of them,\u201d Terry said.<\/p>\n Any posts that mislead voters about candidates or referendums could also potentially violate a Wisconsin statute<\/a> barring \u201cfalse representation \u2026 intended to affect voting in an election,\u201d Terry said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAny chucklehead in any northern Wisconsin bar will give you an opinion on a political thing \u2026 That\u2019s fine,\u201d Terry said. \u201cIf he’s paid to think that and paid to sit in the bar and talk to people about it, that’s something else, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, democracy advocates have called on the Federal Election Commission to clarify laws to explicitly require<\/a> that influencers post disclaimers indicating who paid for their political content.<\/p>\n Prices, misinformation on the rise<\/p>\n While many of these videos are riddled with false information, they channel popular frustrations over real spikes in prices.<\/p>\n \u201cGas is not $7 a gallon in Green Bay, and average rent is not $4,000. But they\u2019re both more expensive than they used to be \u2026 It’s simply true that people are anxious and concerned about the cost of living,\u201d said state Sen. Jamie Wall, D-Green Bay. \u201cAnd I hear that from people across the political spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n Across the country, consumers have been sour on the economy for years, said Joanne Hsu, who oversees the University of Michigan\u2019s Surveys of Consumers. The monthly consumer sentiment survey, first conducted in 1946, asks Americans how they feel about the economy and where it\u2019s headed.\u00a0<\/p>\n The answer in recent months: still not good. When survey workers asked Americans in June about their personal finances, 56% brought up high prices without being prompted.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Green Bay, where the average home value is about $290,000, the cost of living remains relatively low. But local residents are feeling the strain of rising prices too, state Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner, D-Green Bay, said.<\/p>\n Still, he fears the misinformation could stifle Green Bay\u2019s future.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one of the most frustrating things about social media is that we are now fighting an army of misinformation, sometimes by innocent bystanders, but sometimes by bad actors,\u201d Rivera-Wagner said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where that confusion can actually cost or have real impact,\u201d he said. \u201cThere might be people in and around our community or businesses thinking about moving or working in our community, and they’re seeing a larger narrative that is not only inaccurate, but doesn\u2019t actually talk about how much work we’ve done to make Green Bay still one of the most affordable places to live in the state or the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, rising costs could shape the outcome of midterm elections across the country this fall. American adults ranked inflation and the high cost of living as the most important issue in every Marquette University Law School Poll national survey this year.<\/a> President Donald Trump has drawn criticism<\/a> for largely dismissing concerns<\/a> about high prices.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel good to be told the economy is doing great when you feel like you\u2019re stretching to make ends meet,\u201d Hsu said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anna Massoglia, Michael Nolan, Jason Dearen and MuckRock\u2019s Sunlight Research Desk provided research and data analysis for this story.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/08\/wisconsin-green-bay-tiktok-internet-campaign-more-expensive-than-nyc-influencers-user-generated-content\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org”>Wisconsin Watch<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wisconsinwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&quality=100&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=1320073&ga4=G-D2S69Y9TDB” style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/08\/wisconsin-green-bay-tiktok-internet-campaign-more-expensive-than-nyc-influencers-user-generated-content\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/wisconsinwatch.org\/p.js”><\/script>