California Gov.Gavin Newsom signed a bill imposing criminal and civil penalties on content creators who fail to disclose paid political advertisements, a measure aimed at bringing greater transparency to the growing use of influencer marketing in politics.The bill, AB1130, was signed into law Saturday as part of a series of new measures that Newsom’s office said are aimed to “protect elections in California from interference and political meddling.” Though existing laws required someone to disclose whether they were being paid to post, there was no liability provision that officials could use to enforce the rule.
Now, authorities will be allowed to impose penalties under the Political Reform Act of 1974 that can include a misdemeanor charge, according to the law’s text.Influencers are playing a growing role in political campaigns, as candidates and political groups seek to reach people who increasingly turn to social media for news and information.Some creators are paid by campaigns or outside groups to produce political content, while others post about candidates and issues without compensation.Assembly member Marc Berman, who proposed the legislation, said the growing influencer industry has “changed the way candidates communicate with voters.”“As more candidates pay influencers to post content supporting their campaigns, it is imperative that voters have the right to know whether or not that content is organic and authentic or paid political messaging,” Berman said in a statement last month, as the bill was headed to the governor’s desk.The issue came to the forefront earlier this year during billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer’s more than $200 million campaign for California governor, which he lost.Steyer’s campaign paid social media influencers to post favorable content about him, but many of the posts did not disclose that the creators had been paid, according to a May report by the Los Angeles Times.The undisclosed posts prompted ...