Paying Creators Isn’t the Problem. Hiding It Is.
Plus, don't miss us at Netroots Nation!
Hey There,
Are you heading to Netroots Nation this year?
If so, we’d love to see you at a happy hour we’re hosting during the conference. Join the People First team for a drink and some good conversation. It’s a chance to connect with friends, partners, and others doing important work in our communities.
Date: Friday, June 5th
Time: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: City Winery
We hope you’ll join us!
People First Team
Paying Creators Isn’t the Problem. Hiding It Is.
In 2026, campaigns are still acting embarrassed about paying creators. They shouldn’t be!
Political campaigns pay people for work every day. They pay canvassers to knock on doors. They pay media consultants to shape a message. They pay video editors, photographers, designers, strategists, polling firms, mail vendors, and field organizers. Paying a creator to spend hours conceptualizing, filming, editing, and distributing content to an audience they have spent years building isn’t some ethical gray zone, It’s just compensation for communications work.
What matters is transparency.
Campaigns and creators should clearly disclose paid partnerships, not because creator work is shameful, but because hiding the relationship is what breaks trust. That’s a lesson campaigns should take from the Tom Steyer influencer controversy in California, where his campaign came under scrutiny after paid creator posts allegedly failed to clearly disclose payments. But, the problem wasn’t that creators were paid, it’s that is looked like the campaign had something to hide.
71% of consumers say transparency and honesty about brand relationships increases trust in influencers. On the other side, 64% say failure to disclose brand relationships damages trust, and 70% say they feel deceived when they discover a partnership was not disclosed. The trust problem is not the paid relationship, It’s the trying to hide it.
Creators and consultants have long worried that clear disclosures would hurt reach or engagement. But 2026 research found that explicit disclosure, including #ad, wasn’t associated with lower engagement. In fact, creator content tagged with #ad generated higher median likes and comments, suggesting explicit disclosure is seen as a credibility signal rather than a penalty.
Audiences aren’t that stupid, people understand creators monetize their platforms. They just want honesty.
There are 27 million paid creators in the United States, including 11.6 million full-time creators, 8.5 million part-time, and 6.5 million people who treat creator work as a paid hobby. U.S. creator ad spend was $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year over year. Creators are not sitting outside some “real” economy, they are the new foundation of the media economy.
Campaigns need to catch up. Great creator content takes time, skill, judgment, emotional intelligence, and years of audience building. Real work that has value. Creators deserve to be paid fairly for it, just like everyone else involved in a campaign. And campaigns should be honest about those partnerships from the start. That is good politics, good policy, and basic respect for the people doing the work and the voters.
Meet Val @ Netroots Nation
We’re thrilled to debut Val at the Netroots Nation New Tools Showcase!
Currently in beta, Val opens up influencer marketing to campaigns, organizations, and SMBs of all sizes for just $299. Discover the creators that are right for you and get connected to them in hours, not days or weeks.
Nearly 60 startups applied, and we’re one of just 12 selected to present! The real-life Val, Val Cheney, will be there to demo the platform and answer any questions. Say hey!
The Month In Digital - May 2026
Google is turning search into AI Slop. Platforms are filling with fake fans, fake engagement, and fake content. LinkedIn wants more “human” posts, whatever that means. TikTok is getting more useful for search. YouTube is trying to label AI junk. And creator rates keep rising because people still trust actual people more than the feed itself.
This month’s Month in Digital has the links, updates, and weird little internet moments worth knowing.
