TikTok Influencers Are Getting Paid $400K to Shill for Failed Democratic Politicians Like Tom Steyer, NY Times Reports

(Photos Via: Carlos Eduardo Espina and Tom Steyer on YouTube)

If your favorite social media political pundit keeps singing the praises of a particular candidate, they just might be getting covertly paid big bucks to do it.

The New York Times on Saturday reported Democratic and Republican politicians are forking over tens of thousands of dollars for talking heads on TikTok and other platforms to boost them — endorsements which are then passed off as organic, rather than paid shilling.

“In most cases, the only way a viewer would know an influencer is being paid would be to search a candidate’s campaign finance reports, as The New York Times did to discover the payments,” journalists Ken Bensinger and Stuart A. Thompson wrote. “Even then, such compensation is regularly obscured by funneling the payments through middlemen.”

Who is paying up for social media love?

The Times found liberal billionaire Tom Steyer paid TikTok influencer Carlos Eduardo Espina — who describes himself as an activist working to “uplift the immigrant community” to his 14 million followers — $400,000 to back his failed bid to become California’s next governor.

Steyer ponied up for a lot of other pundits too, with the Times reporting he paid at least $5,000 to 17 influencers. One of those pundits was left-wing influencer Josh Greene, who goes by @JoshTheProgressive on Instagram and other platforms; Greene “shifted” his support to Steyer in May, right around when he received a $21,500 payment from Steyer’s campaign, according to the report.

Greene is “among a growing number of influencers who, at a moment when campaigns are increasingly willing to pay for online attention, appear willing to put their mouth where the money is,” the report added.

Thompson and Bensinger wrote the “phenomenon” is bipartisan. But the best example after Steyer in the report was former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who also spent a ton of dough on her own failed attempt to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) this year.

Porter dropped $139,5000 on 12 influencers to during her campaign, including $25,000 on a single post from creator Avery Cyrus to pump her up. The social media blitz didn’t work, though; Porter received 4.4% of CA votes and finished in fifth place in the state’s June primary.

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