California is one of two states, along with Texas, that have passed policies requiring content creators to say if they’ve been paid by a political campaign to post, and the Golden State is considering cracking down by fining people who don’t.

Campaigns have long worked with celebrities and major influencers to win over voters, but now they are teaming up with smaller creators — sometimes with fewer than 100,000 followers — to reach more tailored audiences. That has sparked debates about whether disclosure rules for political advertisements should apply to content creators, who are expected to play prominent roles in the upcoming midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

  • gibmiser@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    See where they are going to fuck this up is by saying paid “political” content. Leaves room to try and weasel out of accountability.

    All paid content must be disclosed. If you are being paid by someone to say something then you need to say so. To do otherwise is to lie by omission.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Let’s start with politicians who don’t disclose they were paid by lobbyists. Making “lobbying” a valid thing means nothing more than systemically approving “payoffs”. God forbid I should hire a writer with a sharp tongue just because I don’t have the wits about me to do so myself.

    • terranoid@lemmy.cafe
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      5 days ago

      Do younger generations really ingest as much YouTube/tiktok/ig influencer data as it sounds like? I feel like I just missed that phenomenon, with YouTube being a thing when I was leaving high school… I never got in the habit of watching YouTube like TV, but it sounds like so many others are addicted to that and short form content.

      • tempest@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        Yes, and it’s not generational at all. Boomers scroll YouTube shorts and tiktok and take it at Gospel just as much as the younger people do.

      • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        I can open up TikTok right now for 5 minutes and see 20-30 ads. In 5 minutes. It has nothing to do with addiction. People are being paid for promotional content and not disclosing that information. People have a right to know when your opinion on a product or person is influenced by money.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        Can’t speak for anyone else but I basically only use YouTube for video entertainment anymore. I think basically all tv is middling as fuck and will only watch shit that truly catches my eye, otherwise I’ve got a video playing on my monitors. Note I don’t watch scrolling short form content, it’s basically all trash outside of the occasional meme and needs to be outlawed in my opinion.

  • No1@aussie.zone
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    5 days ago

    Obviously, they’ll need the normal legislative exclusions for politicians.

      • No1@aussie.zone
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        5 days ago

        Politicians create politicial content and don’t disclose they were paid all the time!

          • Ava@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            5 days ago

            The person you’re responding to is pointing to a common corruption in politics, where politicians can receive money (read:bribes) and then shape their political messaging because of it, usually without much actual difficulty or official scrutiny. They’re not saying that the exclusions are actually valuable to the general public.

    • Pistachio@lemmy.zip
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      5 days ago

      Fucking Iraqi Dinar! My dad was sooooo into that shit! Sold most of it now, but still has some stashed away “just in case it RVs!” 🙄