* WGN…

Social media influencers are becoming major players in the political space.

The Chicago Teachers Union admits to targeting billionaire donor Michael Sacks with paid posts. Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson are among the growing list of politicians using influencers to get their message out in their respective re-election campaigns.

It’s a brave new world, raising questions about whether the influencers are speaking for themselves or being paid to spread campaign talking points. There’s currently no laws requiring the people posting to disclose whether or not they’re being compensated.

An Illinois lawmaker, Democratic State Rep. Curtis Tarver, is working on legislation dealing with campaigning on social media. Tarver talked to WGN Political Editor Tahman Bradley about it on Thursday’s episode of The Point.

* From the interview…

Bradley: Content creators and videos in political campaigns is not new, but it’s getting a lot of attention. What are the problems that you see, and, and what do you think lawmakers should do?

Rep. Tarver: I think the problem is that the public is unaware, oftentimes, that what they’re being presented with is paid for. It’s a perspective that is being pushed upon them by someone who’s being paid to do it, and they’re unaware of that. And I think that’s what we need to correct and solve for. […]

Bradley: Would this be on the screen, or would it be verbal?

Tarver: It should be on the screen and/or verbal. I think that is something that we can we can certainly work out, but it should be something that notifies the public that they’re being paid. That’s the most important thing.

Bradley: And would your plan be to hold the campaigns responsible to making sure that their influencers are following the rules, disclosing the way that campaigns have to disclose their political activity?

Tarver: I think it’s both. I think you hold them joint and severally liable, quite honestly. I think there’s a legal thing here as well, because the campaign knows they’re paying the influencer for the purpose of influencing individuals, and the influencer knows they’re being paid to do so, so I think both of them should disclose. The campaign maybe disclose on a quarterly basis, or something along those lines, or weekly where- whereas the influencer is in real time. So both of them should be obligated to do so.

Bradley: Have you filed the bill, and have you talked to Governor Pritzker? I mean, he’s using influencers after all.

Tarver: I’ve not had a conversation with him specifically, but this is not directed at one individual, right? It could be if it were me, I’d be held to the same standard. So I’ve not talked to him. I do have language filed with LRB, and I’m looking to push this bill in veto session. […]

Bradley: I wonder if your colleagues are going to want to do this because it’s there there’ll be new bureaucratic things they’ll have to do. There’ll be new enforcement. I people like, I think, now messaging this way because it goes unfiltered. It doesn’t have to go through journalists. Do you have enough support, in other words, to pass this?

Tarver: I feel pretty confident. I think that the key thing is it’s not about how we feel about what we want to do. It’s about protecting the public, right? And this is in the vein of transparency. I think we’ve been pretty keen on talking about transparency, and so I think this falls in that line.

Please pardon any transcription errors.

Thoughts?