Tom Steyer Paid Influencers Up To Six Figures For Undisclosed Political Ads Critics Say Are Violating Election Rules

As the closely contested California gubernatorial primary comes to a close, a new controversy has emerged involving one of the front-runners.

Environmentalist billionaire Tom Steyer has been accused by several political content creators of paying other influencers to promote his campaign without the expected disclosures that the videos are advertisements.

Many of these influencers have been paid to share videos in support of Steyer, and many of these accounts have also been criticizing the opposing candidate, Xavier Beccera. 

At the center of the investigation are content creators Kaitlin Hennessy and Beatrice Gomberg, who say they have spent the last two weeks documenting what they describe as a coordinated influencer network promoting Steyer’s campaign.