SD Gov Sued Over Bizarre Infomercial For Texas Dentist

Rolling Stone reports:

Kristi Noem probably wasn’t smiling after being served a lawsuit on Wednesday. Earlier this week, the South Dakota governor released a highly produced video on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and Truth Social, touting the dental work she had done at Smile Texas.

Travelers United, a nonprofit focused on travel and consumer protection, sued Noem over the video, alleging that the governor acted in a “misleading and deceptive” manner in failing to disclose that it was an advertisement.

The lawsuit describes Noem as a social media influencer, citing her various accounts and that she had to have been paid for the video. Since Noem had her treatment done in Texas, Travellers United argues the undisclosed ad also promotes a form of medical tourism.

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If you want to promote medical tourism on social media in exchange for $ and/or free or reduced priced services, you can do that. Just make sure to put Ad as the first word in your caption to comply with the law. https://t.co/459DO4R8fR

— TravelersUnited.org (@TravelersOrg) March 13, 2024

Kristi Noem is doing and posting a commercial on her twitter account for a dentist in Sugar Land, Texas. pic.twitter.com/QSwezusDuJ

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 12, 2024

Kristi Noem posts an infomercial for out-of-state dentist, and @stribrooks calls it a stunning setback to the SoDak dentalverse. https://t.co/r5HBcdLmrv

— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) March 13, 2024