Nithya Ramanâs campaign is firing back at a political group trolling her homelessness record with fake real estate signs, a rundown RV and an AI phone line impersonating the mayoral hopeful.
The campaign filed an ethics complaint Sunday accusing Thrive LA of five disclosure violations and demanding action before the Nov. 3 election.
But Thrive denies wrongdoing, accusing Raman of trying to bully critics into silence.
The clash erupted after Thrive unleashed a series of ads for the fictional âNithya Raman Realty,â featuring an AI-generated Raman promising, âWe got A Tent to Give You!â alongside warnings of âNeedles, Crime, Tents, Zero Accountability.â
Another sign advertises a âDesignated Poop Zoneâ coming to a neighborhood near you.
The group also sent a battered RV cruising through LA, mimicking the dilapidated vehicles lining city streets.
Thrive executive director Ana Teresa Dahan defended the campaign as political satire, saying the group’s political spending and advertising were disclosed through the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, where The California Post independently verified the existence of public filings.
“They wouldn’t have known it was us if we hadn’t put the disclosure,” Dahan told The Post Monday.
“We’re a small organization, so we had to be scrappy,” she added.
But Raman’s campaign said the problem goes beyond the signs themselves.
The mock real estate ads feature a phone number answered by an AI-generated voice impersonating Raman, inviting callers into an interactive conversation about homelessness, according to the complaint.
The Post independently dialed the number and heard a woman’s voice asking questions, including where the caller would prefer to pitch a tent.
Each answer triggered another question, continuing a back-and-forth exchange mocking Raman’s homelessness policies.
During The Post’s call, the voice did not identify Thrive as the sponsor or disclose that the conversation was AI-generated political advertising.
Raman’s campaign says callers should not have to ask who is behind the recording to learn they are listening to a political advertisement.
“Our argument is it needs to be a disclaimer. There is not,” a campaign representative told The Post, saying it should be taken down.
The complaint also targets a network of Instagram accounts accused of spreading anti-Raman videos to potentially millions of viewers without identifying who paid for them.
Among the accounts identified were @males_hub_, with approximately 1.2 million followers, and @ratchethoodvideos, with 806,000.
The videos featured Thrive’s mock real estate signs and battered RV, alongside messages including “Want an encampment down the block? Nithya’s your vote.”
Raman’s campaign alleges the posts were part of a coordinated effort to make paid political advertising appear to be ordinary viral content, without the required sponsorship disclosures.
Public filings show Thrive reported $53,800 in digital advertising spending and $81,200 in payments to a print advertising vendor.
The complaint itself acknowledges that all five signs it identifies carry written disclaimers naming Thrive as their sponsor.
But Raman’s campaign says those disclosures do not resolve its allegations involving the AI phone line, Instagram videos and other advertising.
The Ethics Commission has not issued a finding on the complaint.
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