Travelers’ United’s complaint accuses Noem of violating the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA), alleging that her “undisclosed advertisements” constituted an “unfair or deceptive practice”:

Someone with a very busy job does not take time off of that job to make a free advertisement for medical services in another state. There are many dentists and cosmetic dentists in South Dakota. No one with an extremely important job in the South Dakota would fly to Texas to receive dental treatment and then sit in that office and film an advertisement without some form of compensation. Kristi Noem acted here as an influencer. She likely either received free dental care in exchange for this advertisement, discounted dental care in exchange for this advertisement or she was paid and received free dental care for the advertisement. Unfortunately Noem did not mark this as an “Ad” or “Advertisement” when posting so she is participating in an unfair and deceptive practice.

Noem “is the Governor of South Dakota for a living but seems to have taken up work as a social media influencer as of March 12, 2024. It is not uncommon for social media influencers to work part-time as influencers while holding another job,” the complaint continued, arguing that she benefited “both physically (a new smile) and financially (she was either paid or received free or reduced cost medical services in exchange for the advertisement).”

The complaint included a full transcript of Noem’s video, along with screenshots from her posts on her different social media accounts that showed it was filmed at the Smile Texas office and included the Smile Texas logo, and a sampling of comments from her followers wondering why she had not disclosed this was “an influencer ad.”