California congressman proposes a national disclosure law for paid political influencers

WASHINGTON - The use of paid social media influencers has been a talking point in California's hotly contested governor's race.

At issue is whether creators who were paid to produce promotional content supporting a candidate disclosed the sponsorship to their audience, as is required by California law.

In one complaint, influencers who supported Tom Steyer were accused of failing to properly disclose that they had been paid for their work, while the Steyer campaign accused a couple of influencers who support the candidacy of Xavier Becerra of the same.

While California has a law on the books requiring influencers to disclose these sponsorships, no such requirement exists at the federal level.

U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., is hoping to change that.

On Tuesday he introduced the PAID Act (Promoting Authenticity with Influencer Disclaimers), which would require social media influencers to disclose if they were paid by a political committee or candidate to create an ad.

"Our social media feeds must be fixed," Takano said in a statement. "Users deserve to know if a creator has been compensated by a campaign to post for them. Current campaign disclosure laws have not kept up with this new creator economy, and voters deserve to know who is financing their feeds before heading to the polling booths."

The Federal Election Commission, which regulates political spending in federal races, previously declined to adopt such regulations.

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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 2:47 PM.