Prominent political influencers have been offered contracts worth millions of dollars to promote positions potentially tied to foreign governments, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said as she introduced legislation intended to make those arrangements more transparent.
The Daily Caller reported Tuesday that Luna’s Foreign Propaganda Disclosure Act would amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to explicitly include “social media influencers” in its definition of a “publicity agent.”
But Luna suggested the legislation is aimed at a broader problem involving foreign money flowing into the growing political influencer industry.
“I have a number of those people,” Luna told Politico when asked about prominent influencers who had been approached to advocate positions potentially tied to foreign countries. “I’m not going to put anyone on blast. That’s not my job.”
“I’ve seen contracts into the millions,” the congresswoman added.
The two-page bill defines a social media influencer as a person with a monetized account on a social media platform. Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin are backing the measure.
“Americans should be able to know when the people shaping conversations online are acting on behalf of foreign interests,” Luna said in a statement. “The Foreign Propaganda Disclosure Act brings foreign-backed influence operations into the light and sends a clear message that America’s public square is not for sale.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wants to crack down on the world of foreign money flowing through America’s political influencer economy.
She tells our @wsteaks about her bill that would require influencers to disclose when they’re being paid by a foreign government to push political… pic.twitter.com/a9hbNFpigs
— POLITICO (@politico) August 24, 2026
The legislation comes amid growing disputes on the political right over foreign governments, lobbying organizations and other interests paying influencers with large online audiences to promote particular issues or generate pressure on policymakers.
The Daily Caller noted, however, that federal law may already require disclosure by influencers performing political or public-relations work for foreign principals.
“While Rep. Luna’s Foreign Propaganda Registration Act aims to address a genuine gap in oversight, existing law already covers much of this ground,” Nicole Kelly, senior counsel at Lex Politica, told the Daily Caller. “FARA currently requires registration for any person, including influencers, who engage in political or public relations activities on behalf of a foreign principal — meaning the findings in this report could already trigger disclosure obligations under current law.”
Kelly nevertheless said Luna’s proposal “signals the momentum building in Washington toward transparency around foreign influence in our political system.”
A June Daily Mail report named several MAGA-aligned influencers who had been accused of accepting foreign payments, including C.J. Pearson, Rob Smith, Arynne Wexler, Emily Wilson and Students for Trump co-founder Ryan Fournier. The outlet reported that the White House had begun watching for indications that influencers were receiving money from domestic or foreign lobbying interests.
Other reports have examined Brad Parscale, a veteran of Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns who is registered as a foreign agent for the Israeli government. Parscale also serves as chief strategy officer at Salem Media Group, which owns conservative outlets including Townhall, RedState, Hot Air and PJ Media.
Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump ally and former senior adviser to the 2024 campaign, has also warned publicly about foreign governments and special interests paying conservative influencers to affect opinion among Trump supporters.
“If you get paid to promote a swimsuit, you have to say ‘paid partnership.’ If you get paid to tell the president to pull tariffs off of India, you don’t have to disclose,” Bruesewitz told Politico. “The American public deserves to know what content that is going out on the accounts of their favorite social media personalities is bought and paid for by foreign interests.”
Luna’s proposal follows other bipartisan efforts in Congress to strengthen disclosure requirements surrounding foreign influence, including the PAID OFF Act introduced in 2025.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced that legislation for further consideration in June.
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