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SALT LAKE CITY — The Federal Election Commission last week unanimously approved a request from Utah Senate candidate and social media influencer Caroline Gleich, which she says will make it easier for online content creators to run for office.
Gleich, a Democrat who is seeking to replace Sen. Mitt Romney this fall, filed a request with the FEC in July asking the agency to allow her to sidestep campaign finance rules that she said disadvantage her and other potential candidates who earn their living through sponsored posts on social media, according to the Washington Post. Current rules consider any sponsored social media posts shared within 90 days of the election to be "coordinated communication," according to the Post, meaning they would need to be disclosed in campaign finance reports.
Gleich's request asked that the FEC consider sponsored posts to be "business communications," an exemption it agreed to last week.
"If we want Congress to look more like America, we need to ensure that people of all backgrounds are able to run for federal office," Gleich said in a statement Wednesday. "As a professional athlete and content creator running for the U.S. Senate, I've seen firsthand the way the system favors candidates who are independently wealthy or come from a political dynasty. I am thrilled that our request to the FEC has been passed, paving the way for more people with diverse backgrounds to run for office."
A professional ski mountaineer with a sizable social media following, Gleich is believed to be the first full-time content creator to run for Congress. She told the Post in July that her campaign had already hurt her ability to make money because at least one brand had pulled out of a marketing deal due to the complexity of navigating campaign finance law.
"I have two other brands that I've been working with for years that are both very strongly thinking about canceling their contracts because of the general uncertainty," she said at the time.
The FEC advisory opinion, issued Aug. 29, grants a safe harbor for Gleich's sponsored social media posts, so long as she is identified in sponsored posts only in her capacity as a business owner, the posts are "consistent with public communications she made prior to her candidacy" and so long as she does not use the sponsored posts to "promote, attack, support or oppose" her campaign or the campaigns of any other federal candidate.
