INFLUENCERS PAID TO SHILL TAXPAYER FUNDED SODA FOR FOODSTAMP USERS
Documents show right-wing celebrities took paid gigs to push pro-soda messaging.
Current Revolt, working with Nick Sortor, has obtained documents showing the dark money influencing global politics has reached a new low—promoting taxpayer funded high-fructose corn syrup for welfare recipients.
Texas Congressman Keith Self introduced a bill earlier this year titled the FIZZ-NO Act which would end taxpayer funded soda purchases for those on SNAP.
Rep. Keith Self (R-TX)
“SNAP was originally created to help the poorest Americans access nutritious food,” Self said. “Allowing taxpayer dollars to subsidize sugary sodas, which offer zero nutritional value and contribute to costly health conditions, is counterproductive. The FIZZ-NO Act is a commonsense solution to strengthen public health and reduce the financial burden on taxpayers.”
Make America Healthy Again enthusiasts and libertarians overwhelmingly supported the bill due to reducing taxpayer costs as well as preventing poor Americans from suffering from the ill effects of consuming unhealthy sodas.
But Influenceable, an online talent agency likely working with the soda lobby, put out a paid gig asking right-wing and MAGA celebrities to push talking points attacking the idea of ending taxpayer funded soda. Below are the instructions provided to celebrities by Influenceable.
The instructions and talking points above included a link to a photograph of President Donald Trump drinking Diet Coke in order to help convince their followers of their paid-for messaging.
Several right-wing accounts were alleged to have been part of the paid soda gig from Influenceable. They all used similar talking points and some even included the photos provided by Influenceable. There were no disclosures from the political celebrities that they were involved in a paid gig to post pro-soda messaging.
Riley Gaines also confirmed that she had been approached to post pro-soda messaging but declined:
After Nick Sortor posted a mega-thread on X, several of the above celebrities would confirm they deleted their posts and withdrew from the soda campaign:
Ian Miles Cheong, a Malaysian citizen living in Dubai, even flip-flopped on his stance regarding taxpayer funded soda once the paid gig was introduced.
Current Revolt has covered Influenceable before, specifically their involvement in Texas politics where they paid political celebrities $50 per post to support specific politicians without celebrities disclosing they were being paid.
It’s become more commonplace that online political celebrities are selling themselves out in exchange for cash. Posting, quite literally, in defense of taxpayer funded soda in exchange money. A new low for online political celebrities.
We reached out to Liam Rafizadeh, co-founder and COO of Influenceable, but calls and texts for comment were left unreturned.
We also reached out to several of the above political celebrities for comment on their association with Influenceable and their involvement with paid political posting involving Texas politics. All refused to comment.
We also reached out to Texas political celebrity, Chad Prather, multiple times via DM and on X to confirm his involvement in undisclosed paid-campaigns, including those not related to soda, and Influenceable. All messages and posts went unreturned.
Almost all the celebrities above would later delete their pro soda messaging. It was later alleged that Influenceable pulled the entire pro-soda campaign.
lol at soda being the line in the sand.
The govt collects all your data all day long from every phone, camera or store you purchase at, builds a profile in you to use against you and they thought they could rally people around soda when they don’t care about the govt spying on them all day.
The worst thing that ever happened was when we started giving food stamps (now on a credit card, God forbid someone is embarrassed) and stopped giving commodities to welfare recipients. You don’t have enough money for food? I’ll help you, but since it’s a gift, how about you take these essentials rather than getting everything under the sun that working people can’t afford.