Does that influencer really like Tom Steyer?

It can start subtly enough: One day a social media influencer you follow — the one who talks about politics, recommends beauty products or shares internet memes — posts a TikTok or Instagram Reel saying they like a candidate for California governor. 

You don’t think much of it and you go on doomscrolling. But what you don’t know is that the influencer may have been paid — potentially tens of thousands of dollars — to post that video.

As CalMatters reports, it’s a practice that billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer is catching heat for in the lead up to the June primary. As part of the most expensive primary campaign in state history, Steyer has paid over $123,400 to at least eight influencers, according to campaign finance filings. His campaign is also paying over $870,000 to a digital media agency that solicits creators to post daily videos about Steyer.

One influencer, Jaz Roche, has posted content that boosts Steyer (or criticizes his main Democratic opponent, Xavier Becerra) 34 times in the past 10 days. On one of Roche’s affiliated accounts, she describes herself as a “so-cal girlypop.” Yet Roche states she’s based in Pennsylvania.

It’s also not always clear to viewers that influencers are being paid for making campaign content. CalMatters reached out to nearly a dozen creators listed in Steyer’s filings whom his campaign paid between $1,500 and $10,000 to post videos. Only one of them labeled their video a “paid partnership.”

Regulators have launched a probe into one of the Steyer influencer videos, in one of the first tests of a 2023 state law requiring influencers to disclose in their posts if they’re being paid by a political campaign.

Kevin Liao, a spokesperson for Steyer, said the campaign is satisfying its legal obligations under the law. And when asked why the campaign had paid some out-of-state influencers for content, Liao replied, “I don’t see why that’s an issue.”

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Chances are slim that lawmakers will make it easier for Californians to find out what lobbyists are telling them after the Assembly denied hearings to two open government bills, writes CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow.

The bills, one drafted by a Democrat and the other by a Republican, would make the formal letters lobbyists write to lawmakers more accessible to Californians by requiring them to be posted online. They’re a window into what businesses, advocacy groups and unions are thinking as bills move through the Capitol.

But Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, a Downey Democrat and the head of the Assembly Rules Committee who would have to approve the measures for them to advance, says she is interested in making the information more accessible, “without requiring legislation.”

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Speaking of bills: Ryan also reports on another bill, this one before the Senate, which gun rights advocates say they are poised to challenge if it becomes law. The proposal would require Californians who want to own a gun to take a four-hour training course. Proponents argue that the bill would reduce gun violence, but lawmakers killed a similar measure last year. Read more.

Republican state legislators are lined up behind a ballot initiative that would require Californians to show proof of citizenship in order to vote, writes CalMatters’ Nadia Lathan.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, a San Diego Republican who is leading the voter ID campaign, says that the practice protects election integrity.

He cites polling that shows 56% of California voters support voter ID. But that support drops to 39% when voters are told the ballot measure is backed by DeMaio and could suppress turnout, particularly among people of color. 

But despite the wavering public support and the fact that voter fraud is exceedingly rare, hammering on voter ID is “traditional Republican messaging,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP political consultant. Having it on the ballot could potentially fire up the party’s base in what will likely be a tough election year for Republicans.

• Stutzman: “Issues like this, that are kind of red meat issues for Republicans when the governor’s race is fairly lackluster, it helps. … It’s not going to hurt Republicans to have this on the ballot.”

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