Political campaigns are hiring influencers to reach voters, and the paid relationships behind those posts are drawing scrutiny. California’s 2026 governor’s race turned into the test case, with campaigns spending real money on creators to push candidates and political messages on social platforms.
Campaigns are paying creators well
Tom Steyer’s campaign for California governor paid at least $123,400 to eight influencers between January and April 18, according to campaign finance filings cited by CalMatters. It also paid more than $870,000 to Group Project Digital, a digital media agency that recruited creators to make videos about Steyer. Steyer did not advance past the June 2 primary.
The largest single arrangement went to Carlos Eduardo Espina, a TikTok creator with more than 14 million followers, who received $100,000 from the Steyer campaign. Espina had already endorsed Steyer publicly, and his later posts drew questions about whether they disclosed the financial relationship clearly enough. The campaign says the payment covered advisory services rather than posts, and Espina has described his role the same way.
The appeal is obvious. Creators reach people who tune out conventional political advertising, and they talk to followers in a format that feels personal: a short video from a face those followers already know, not a 30-second spot.
California already has disclosure rules
California enacted a law in 2023 that requires influencers paid for political messaging to say so in the post. Transparency was the whole point. Enforcement is the weak spot, because the state’s campaign watchdog has to go to court to compel a disclosure, and that takes months.
The Fair Political Practices Commission opened an investigation into a video by creator Isaiah Washington, who campaign filings show was paid $10,000 by Steyer’s campaign. An Instagram version carried a paid-partnership label. The TikTok version, since deleted, did not. The complaint came from two creators who post in support of Xavier Becerra, Steyer’s opponent, and Steyer’s campaign has since filed a complaint of its own alleging the Becerra campaign also paid creators without disclosure. A campaign spokesman called the original complaint baseless.
Plenty of creators who worked with the Steyer campaign did label their posts as paid. The investigation covers the ones that didn’t.
None of this is unique to California. Campaigns and advocacy groups keep folding creators into digital outreach, especially as social platforms become a main source of news and political information for younger audiences. Texas has its own disclosure rule, New York is weighing one, and a California bill now in play would let the commission fine creators and committees up to $5,000 per violation without going to court first. For any creator who takes political money, that is the line worth reading twice.
