Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) is facing a lawsuit from a consumer advocacy group for violating consumer protection laws in a social media video she posted praising her Texas dentist. 

Noem promoted Smile Texas on social media on Tuesday in a five-minute video resembling an infomercial. She said the company gave her “a smile that I can be proud of and confident in.”

Travelers United, the group that filed the lawsuit, called the video “misleading” and “deceptive” advertising for failing to disclose her financial relationship with the dentist. 

“Kristi Noem knew and should have known that reasonable consumers she was advertising to without disclosure may believe she just liked a certain product and may purchase that product accordingly, without realizing that she was being paid to promote a product,” the lawsuit noted.

The lawsuit compared her to social media influencers, who often have two jobs — in Noem’s case, governor and influencer. 

“Governor Kristi 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,” according to the lawsuit. “It is not uncommon for social media influencers to work part-time as influencers while holding another job.”

The lawsuit then points out the uncommon job combination.

“Defendant Kristi Noem is a resident of South Dakota where she currently serves as governor of the state. Sitting politicians do not typically work as part-time social media influencers.”

The lawsuit said that because Smile Texas promotes medical tourism, Noem likely needed to disclose the video was an advertisement and that she engaged in an “unfair and deceptive practice.” In the video, Noem said she flew to Houston for the procedure. 

“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,” the lawsuit said.

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Democratic state Sen. Reynold Nesiba said the governor’s video “raises a number of questions.” He called on South Dakota’s Government Operations and Audit Committee to investigate the video when it meets in July. 

“I just thought it was a very strange video about how much she enjoyed having her teeth done at that particular place,” Nesiba said.