An Instagram with 60K followers linked to a nonprofit quietly changed to a California congressional candidate’s campaign page. Now, a rival is asking the FEC to investigate

Just how much are social media followers worth to a congressional campaign?

That question — along with how a candidate can go about amassing a following — are at the crux of a recent campaign finance complaint involving two Democratic rivals in the race for California’s 40th Congressional District .

An Instagram account dedicated to March For Our Lives California, the state’s outfit for the student-run organization that advocates for gun violence prevention, quietly switched over to be dedicated to Perry Meade’s congressional campaign, along with its nearly 60,000 followers, according to a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission made by Esther Kim Varet’s campaign, a fellow Democrat in the CA-40 race.

The race for California’s 40th District — represented now by Republican Rep. Y