Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry. This week, a soccer-loving creator does some TV time, a TikTok deepfake does good business, and the “airport theory” does in tardy travelers.

Creator commotion

iShowSpeed pivots to sports punditry on UCL Today. Paramount+’s flagship studio show for its soccer coverage brought in a footie-loving creator for the Champions League Round of 16. Speed’s chaotic vibe made him a perfect fit with the UCL Today crew, even if his takes were easy to predict. Surprise, surprise: Speed thinks Ronaldo is the GOAT.

IanOnYouTube has his job back. 7-11 fired one of its most famous representatives, who shares dispatches from his job in short-form videos. At the time, we argued the personnel move was a bad idea — a few weeks later, 7-11 got the memo.

HasanAbi went too far this time. The progressive political commentator channeled his inner Luigi when he told his Twitch followers that “If you cared about Medicaid fraud, you would kill [Senator] Rick Scott.” A ban soon followed, though Hasan is now back on his stream and apparently willing to tone down the rhetoric just a little bit.

The latest tech

The creator of TikTok’s Tom Cruise deepfake got the bag. VFX studio DNEG Group acquired Metaphysic, a company known for posting videos that feature an AI-generated Tom Cruise lookalike. Will the deal prove to be risky business? Either way, AI companies are perched on the edge of tomorrow.

Pinterest gets with the program with clearer AI labels. Platforms are developing tools that identify and point out AI-generated uploads. Pinterest is a little late to the party, and it took some criticism from users for the digital pin board to announce its improved labels.

YouTube’s CEO is the star of a new deepfake scam. If a robotic-looking facsimile of Neal Mohan asks you to share your personal information with him, don’t listen.

The ad world

e.l.f. Cosmetics brings branded telenovelas to TikTok and Instagram. A Mexico-based campaign invites users to “Discover the e.l.f. effect” through melodramatic storylines. It’s not the first time a brand has attempted to bring the time-honored Hispanic genre online.

Oscar ads went for $2 million a pop. The spots were so expensive that even Anora’s Russian oligarch boyfriend would have trouble affording them.

Gaming influencer marketing isn’t what it used to be. It’s getting harder for brands to locate gamers who they consider to be “brand-safe.” Do sponsors need to adjust their expectations, or is it time for the edgy gamers to grow up?

Platform headlines

Albania bans TikTok. The Mediterranean nation’s actions against the app began last year after the stabbing death of a teenager resulting from an altercation that allegedly began on TikTok. As a result, the Albanian version of TikTok is set to go dark for at least a year.

YouTube’s rivals aren’t happy about Australia’s “carveout” in its social media law. We wrote about how the Australian government fell down a slippery slope as it exempted YouTube from a law that limits underage access to social platforms. Companies subject to the law, such as TikTok, are now blasting the Australian government for permitting YouTube to gain a monopoly among under-18 social media users.

Instagram’s Edits app isn’t here yet — but it’s getting some more features. Instagram has delayed its version of ByteDance’s CapCut, but that hasn’t stopped the Meta-owned hub from previewing the tools that will be available once Edits hits virtual App Store shelves.

The internet is a strange place

You don’t have to miss your flight just because TikTok told you to. The app’s “airport theory” advises travelers to show up at the airport right before the doors to their flight close. Maybe you can sleep a little more if you cut it that close, but the airport theory adherents who missed their flights probably wish they had set earlier alarms.

Casey Anthony joins TikTok. Remember the woman who caused a media circus when she went on trial for the murder of her child more than 13 years ago? Casey Anthony faded into obscurity after she was acquitted, but she has resurfaced on TikTok to promote her newsletter. That gives “true crime content” a new meaning.

No, David Letterman’s YouTube channel didn’t kill Dave Chappelle. The YouTube hub affiliated with Letterman’s former late-night show has posted compilations featuring recently departed celebs like Roberta Flack and Gene Hackman. So when a Dave Chappelle compilation showed up on a channel, the comedian’s fans feared the worst. False alarm: Dave is alive and well, and the uploads behind Letterman’s YouTube channel need to think a little more about optics.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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The U.S. government’s effort to force either a ban or divestiture of TikTok has hit another snag, and more delays are on the horizon. After talks between the White House and Chinese authorities stalled, President Donald Trump indicated that he will “probably” extend an executive order that has prevented the divest-or-ban law from taking effect.

Nearly two months after Trump ordered a 75-day delay for the Biden-era law, Axios reported that Chinese officials have yet to negotiate with prospective TikTok buyers in the United States. Suitors are lacking the specifics they need to understand a potential deal, and there’s also confusion about the Trump officials who are in charge of brokering the deal. Vice President J.D. Vance is reportedly taking point rather than ceding control to a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Long story short, the deal that would divest TikTok to a U.S.-led ownership group is nowhere near done, so the President might need to give the negotiating parties an extension on their homework. Trump told a reporter he is likely to delay the start of the divest-or-ban law once again.

“We have a lot of interest in TikTok. China is going to play a role, so hopefully China will approve of the deal,” Trump said. “But they’re going to play a role.”

From the start of Trump’s second term, the Chinese government’s role in the TikTok negotiations has been unclear. Initially, officials in Beijing suggested that they would step aside and let ByteDance broker its own TikTok deal. As Trump escalated his attacks on Chinese trade, the CCP appeared to change its tune on TikTok, suggesting that it might nix a divestiture agreement.

At this point, as Trump scales back some of his promises, it’s natural to speculate whether the President will start singing a different tune on TikTok. He could use the app as a bargaining chip amid broader dealings with China.

At the same time, the tide has clearly turned against the TikTok ban. The app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, has made nice with Trump while pleasing Chinese citizens with his defiance of American regulations. TikTok is on track to haul in $30 billion of ad revenue this year as long as it avoids a ban, and it’s developing assets for American small businesses as well. At this point, TikTok users on both sides of the Pacific might as well ask a simple question: “Why can’t we be friends?”

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, TikTok by Sam Gutelle
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In mid-2024, Kickstarter highlighted how more creators are using its platform to crowdfund projects that are offshoots of their usual content. YouTube animator CircleTunesHD, for example, raised $729,197 to bring his fantasy tabletop game Fool’s Blade to life. Then there’s YouTuber and inventor Simone Giertz, who raised nearly $1.2 million across two projects: foldable hangers and a habit calendar. Plus, we here at Tubefilter are currently keeping an eye on Twitch streamer Saren, whose artbook project became an official Kickstarter “Project We Love” and has raised $54,273 of an $18,000 goal…so far.

Basically, creators can thrive when they use platforms like Kickstarter to give their fans a way to provide direct financial support for their projects. And creators embracing Kickstarter helped drive the platform to its biggest year yet.

The platform just released its 2024 postmortem, showing that creators, inventors, writers, artists, gamemakers, and more raised $706,446,298.66 total across 35,512 projects last year.

Some other notable stats:

• $116.32—the average campaign contribution per backer, a 5% bump from the average in 2023
• $138,815—the most money pledged by a single backer (they supported 111 projects total)
• 2,053—the most individual projects backed by a single backer (they spent $28,523)

Kickstarter also revealed the top most-funded projects in all major categories, including some that hit the news cycle previously, like Brandon Sanderson‘s record-setting Cosmere RPG. It raised a whopping $15 million in its first 24 hours on Kickstarter, setting the new record for the most money pledged in that time period. Sanderson, a fantasy author, is a regularly Kickstarter creator who’s raised over $85 million since 2022.

Here are the projects that brought the most fan funding in 2024:

Tech Project
Valerion VisionMaster
$10,921,452 across 4,824 backers

Video Game
My Time At Evershine–The Next My Time Tale from Panthea Games
$2.29 million raised across 33,933 backers

Comic Book
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero from Skybound
$3.37 million across 10,490 backers

Tabletop Project
Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere RPG by Brotherwise Games
$15.1 million raised across 55,106 backers

Short Film
Nadine–A Golden Era by Tasha Ann Ladwig
$61, 246 raised across 425 backers

Animated Project
Animating Cradle: Bestselling Fantasy Novels Come To Life! by Will Wight.
$1,275,446 million raised across 8,224 backers

Publishing Project
World of Eragon: Collectible Saphira Statue from Wraithmarked Creative
$1.67 million raised across 9,320 backers

Theatrical Production
Cinderella’s Castle–A New Fairy-Tale Musical from StarKid Productions.
$529,000 raised across 7,473 backers

(StarKid is a name we haven’t heard in a while…but as we’re looking back through some of YouTube’s historic top videos in preparation for its 20th anniversary, we’ve been reminded of this iconic production.)

Kickstarter adds that over the course of 2024, potential backers searched most for projects producing watches, tarot cards, dice, keyboards, and coffee.

This is cool data from a platform that allows independent creators to connect with fans who want what they’re making. We’ve seen fans’ willingness to directly, financially support creators grow since the early days of the COVID pandemic, and sites like YouTube and Twitch are always developing more tools to facilitate this connection (and get a cut of the cash for themselves).

With Kickstarter’s record year, it’s clear people are willing to pay for what creators make–and that helps keep the $250 billion creator industry growing.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Kickstarter by James Hale
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Kick is making a tempting offer to seasoned developers. After providing public access to its API, the platform announced a $100,000 fund that will reward the builders of innovative streamer products.

The team known as Kick Dev launched the $100,000 “bounty” program on March 6. Individual developers and teams are both invited to submit the third-party tools they build out of the Kick API. Entries will be accepted until May 7, with the winners announced two weeks later on May 21.

Kick’s pitch to prospective builders is simple: come up with something that “creates value for our viewers.” That could be interpreted as a stream extension that adds flair to broadcasts or a franchise tie-in that deepens communal lore. Kick has more than 1,000 developers who are already using its API, and it wants their imaginations to run wild.

“Since our inception, a public API has been one of the most requested features from our community, and today, we’re delivering,” said Kick Head of Operations Ryan Webb in a statement. “Kick has always been fiercely creator-first, and now that commitment extends to developers. With major bounties up for grabs, we’re investing in those ready to build.”

Kick’s investment in its on-platform experience takes it in a new direction after its volatile early years. After launching with promises of big earnings, Kick cemented itself as a legitimate Twitch rival by poaching some of the platform’s top streamers. The results of that push were inconclusive. High-profile streamers brought cultural relevance to Kick, but Twitch CEO Dan Clancy argued that a poaching-centric strategy was a “complete mistake” and unsustainable in the long run.

As streaming exclusivity contracts become less common, Kick is investing in its middle class through its Creator Incentive Program. The API bounty feels like another step in that direction. It’s an initiative that will lead to quality-of-life upgrades for Kick streamers and their fans alike.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, Kick, News by Sam Gutelle
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While the U.S. government sets its sights on TikTok, the nation’s citizens are looking to rein in a different platform: Twitch. The live streaming hub will be subjected to a widespread boycott as part of an “economic blackout” that will target Amazon-owned businesses on March 7.

The People’s Union USA, an advocacy group that protests America’s economic system, is organizing the anti-Amazon effort. The 24-hour boycott of Jeff Bezos’ companies will come one week after a broader blackout that targeted major corporations and credit card companies.

Even as the blackout put a dent in business at some retailers, it seemed to only help Amazon, which enjoyed a slight sales uptick on February 28. The People’s Union USA is hoping that a more focused attempt to hurt Amazon’s bottom line will deliver more impactful results. It’s a “calculated strike,” according to People’s Union leader John Schwarz. “If you want to focus your firepower, you target what you use the most,” he said.

Twitch is not the first Amazon property that springs to mind when you imagine the corporation’s economic excesses, but the platform’s ties to its parent company have grown tighter in recent years. For years after its 2014 acquisition of Twitch (which cost it about $1 billion), Amazon kept its hands off its video game hub and allowed it to primarily operate independently.

Since breaking out Twitch revenue for the first time last year, Amazon has exerted more influence on the platform, especially in the realm of brand partnerships. Twitch’s reliance on Amazon may help its development overall, but for 24 hours, its ties to its parent company will be a hindrance.

Ironically, The People’s Union may inadvertently harm its own cause with its economic blackout. Twitch is a hotbed for political organization and a home for left-wing firebrands like Hasan Piker. During the boycott, will those progressives be unable to reach a portion of their audience?

If The People’s Union wants to really hurt Amazon, it would have to convince people to give up their scrolling entirely. The Amazon Web Services unit is one of the most profitable arms of its parent company, and it’s hard to use the internet at all without running into an AWS-hosted site.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Twitch by Sam Gutelle
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It’s not up for debate: Female content creators deal with more egregious behavior online than male creators. Women have spoken up about having to combat everything from lewd remarks in stream chat to death threats and deepfakes.

And sometimes, this behavior crosses over from online to IRL.

On March 2, just before midnight, Twitch/Kick streamer Amouranth posted a concerning tweet:

I’m being too robbed at gunpont

— Amouranth (@Amouranth) March 3, 2025

She would later give harrowing details. She woke up to three men standing over her. They pulled her out of bed, beat her, and held her at gunpoint, trying to get her to hand over her cryptocurrency assets. Thankfully she was able to lead them across the house to her husband, who had seen her tweets and was waiting with a firearm to scare them off. Both she and her husband were unharmed, and Houston police are investigating.

Less than 24 hours later, Emiru, Cinna, and Valkyrae were accosted by a male “fan” at the Santa Monica Pier in California. They were hosting an IRL stream as part of their “sisathon” collab marathon, and the man had tracked their location using the live broadcast. When he found them, he got down on one knee and proposed to them, then asked one for her phone number. After she refused, he lunged at them, threatening to kill them.

The three streamers called for pier security while their cameraperson and assistant got between them and the man.

While the perpetrators of these incidents were unrelated, the incidents’ close proximity and the fact that they both involved female streamers has sparked discussions about the lengths well-known women have to go to protect themselves.

Streamer Pokimane just recently told Colin and Samir that she spends over five figures a month on security, including paying for services that protect her from doxxing, deepfakes and stalking.

“I literally have people that I have to pay monthly to essentially scour and see whether my address is online anywhere and then take it down,” she told them. “I wish that wasn’t the case.”

She added that she’s also altered the appearance of her streaming and living spaces so it’s more difficult to tell where she lives from her broadcasts. We here at Tubefilter have heard from several other female streamers who have done the same thing after being doxxed or receiving threats of stalking.

Meanwhile, QTCinderella responded to Amouranth, Emiru, Cinna, and Valkyrae’s incidents by tweeting about the private security company she hires to protect her at all public events. (Also worth noting she and her partner, fellow streamer Ludwig, have been targeted by swatters multiple times.)

Obviously we’re not saying male content creators have zero need for security, or that they never face threats of their own. More than a few male content creators have been swatted, and some have also had their homes broken into. But Emiru, Cinna, and Valkyrae’s incident especially highlights how female content creators are at risk of stalking from “fans” who have tripped into some kind of parasocial reality and think if they just have one chance to get face-to-face with a female creator, she’ll agree to date them.

And, as you saw from the perpetrator’s reaction in that incident, things can get dangerous fast if the creator says no.

So what can female creators do? Unfortunately, law enforcement still doesn’t make significant effort to track down and stop digital threats, so the expensive blueprint Pokimane laid out in her interview with Colin and Samir appears to be the best path. Female creators are going to have to reach into their own pockets to protect the locations of their living spaces, scour the internet for information leaks, and hire security for public appearances–and hope all that is enough to keep them safe.

Filed under: Creator, Homepage Feature by James Hale
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YouTube’s Premium Lite tier is here, and cost-conscious viewers who dislike watching ads should give it a look. The new subscription option is cheaper than pre-existing YouTube Premium plans, but lacks access to some paywalled features.

Premium Lite is YouTube’s olive branch to AdBlock users

The platform has made it harder for users to install third-party extensions that remove ads from the YouTube player. That move has frustrated users who are fatigued by the volume and duration of ad breaks on YouTube.

As YouTube has limited access to ad blockers, it has also made Premium more expensive through routine price hikes. Perhaps some users would embrace a YouTube-approved method for removing ads as long as it came at a fair price; those YouTube users will be most intrigued by Premium Lite, which costs $7.99 per month.

For comparison, the full-featured version of YouTube Premium currently goes for $13.99 per month. Subscribers who accept the discount will have to live without YouTube Music and offline downloads, but the biggest perk of Premium — freedom from ads — is available at every price point.

“Today we’ll begin expanding our Premium Lite pilot to users in the US,” reads a YouTube blog post. “In the coming weeks, we’ll also make Premium Lite available to all users in our current pilot countries – Thailand, Germany, and Australia.”

Premium Lite adds a new wrinkle to a service with 125 million subscribers

YouTube shared some stats about its Premium tier alongside the official announcement of its new subscription option. 125 million accounts are now subscribed to YouTube Music and YouTube Premium around the globe.

On the TV screen front, YouTube continues to dominate. After previously becoming the first streaming hub to account for at least 10% of all TV watch time, YouTube has endured as the #1 platform in Nielsen’s latest ranking of TV hubs.

With YouTube increasing its market saturation, new revenue streams are key

Everyone knows about YouTube these days. That’s good news for the platform’s cultural legacy, but it does raise some financial questions: How does a video site with so much saturation continue to grow?

YouTube’s strategy seems to involve the optimization of its revenue streams. Its plan to redesign its TV app to bring more attention to its Primetime Channels hub will boost a marketplace many viewers don’t know about. Premium Lite gives YouTube a chance to promote one of its longest-running revenue streams while potentially introducing it to a fresh wave of thrifty customers.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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A company that owns the rights to dozens of classic game show formats is turning to digital influencers to launch revivals. FremantleMedia‘s production arm Talkback Thames recently put together a reboot of Supermarket Sweep hosted by the Sidemen, and the video’s success may lead to future YouTube spinoffs.

The Sidemen uploaded their version of Supermarket Sweep on their group YouTube channel, which reaches more than 22 million subscribers. The U.K. creator septet worked with Talkback Thames to incorporate official Supermarket Sweep assets into their version of the show, but the Sidemen also put an edgy twist on the proceedings.

If the resulting video aired alongside Supermarket Sweep reruns on daytime TV, it might not be appropriate, but on YouTube, it was a hit. It has pulled in more than 5.5 million views to date and received rave reviews from Sidemen fans.

According to The Times, Talkback Thames is exploring the possibility of further YouTube adaptations that would turn influencers into game show contestants. With formats like The Price Is Right in its library, FremantleMedia is drawing inspiration from creator-led game shows that have drawn considerable viewership in recent years.

It’s not the first time FremantleMedia has plotted digital revivals of its classic shows. A hub called Buzzr has offered on-demand access to decades of game show episodes, but viewership on that channel pales in comparison to what the Sidemen receive on a typical upload.

FremantleMedia has also explored distribution on Netflix, where the last Supermarket Sweep revival took place, but that road leads to the Sidemen as well. The creator group has brought its reality show Inside to the streamer after previously debuting a documentary on the service.

“The Sidemen are like fish out of water when they take part in Supermarket Sweep and it’s as if they are entering the world of traditional TV,” said Jordan Schwarzenberger, the Co-Founder of Sidemen management firm Arcade Media, in an interview with The Times. “Blending well-known shows with content creators who people love and watch each and every day makes for really good content. YouTube is all about personalities and the connection audiences have with creators.”

Supermarket Sweep may not be typical Sidemen fare, but it’s indicative of the group’s current direction. KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, and Wroetoshaw are moving past the youthful collabs that once defined them to produce elevated content with TV-grade quality — hence the focus on Netflix.

Of course, the boyish fun isn’t all gone. The Sidemen are as irreverent as they’ve always been, and the chaos they brought to the Supermarket Sweep aisles proves it.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Nimbi‘s struggles on major social media hubs have led it to set up shop in an unlikely location: OnlyFans. The razor brand has found that its business model doesn’t align with TikTok’s guidelines, so it is taking advantage of a platform with fewer restrictions.

The saga of Nimbi’s OnlyFans account begins on TikTok, where the company’s branded content struggled to reach viewership targets. Nimbi surmised that “razor” is shadowbanned on the app, which would limit exposure for videos that feature that word.

Given TikTok’s effort to protect teens from content that might lead them to self-harm, the restriction on “razor” content is understandable, but the decision nevertheless left Nimbi at an impasse. To solve its viewership issues, the brand went to OnlyFans, where its official account offers shaving tips and tutorials.

Nimbi is not the first entity to address brand safety concerns by moving to an NSFW platform. Years ago, as YouTube cracked down on gun content, some firearms enthusiasts migrated to Pornhub, where they knew their videos would stay within the site’s guidelines.

On OnlyFans, Nimbi is showing that NSFW content is not required — though it also retains its value even in a non-sexual context. “It’s much more like, ‘How do we show that we all share a lot of the same needs?'” Nimbi Co-Founder Anna Reid told Inc. “‘Let’s share better educational techniques that aren’t [for] our skin on our face, but other body parts that we just can’t show on social media.'”

The freedom with which Nimbi has expressed itself on OnlyFans seems to have helped its bottom line. The brand is now Erewhon’s top seller in the personal care category.

But before other brands jump at the opportunity to reach consumers on OnlyFans, they should keep in mind that the platform’s branded content operation is still in its infancy. OnlyFans lets users sell merch through integrated third-party storefronts, and its SFW content hub OFTV offers potential integrations, but the nine-year-old hub’s suite of business tools is not as robust as what brands can find on TikTok.

For now, Nimbi’s OnlyFans account seems like a curious venture rather than the start of a wholesale trend, but that could change. Given the amount of money that flows through OnlyFans on a daily basis, brands would be wise to keep it on the radar.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, OnlyFans by Sam Gutelle
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TikTok‘s next expansion of its U.S. business sounds a lot like Groupon. The app is reportedly hiring staffers in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York to build out a “local services” team that will work with small businesses and creators to facilitate promotional opportunities.

Axios first reported on TikTok’s planned expansion, citing a plethora of relevant job listings as well as “sources familiar with [TikTok’s] plans.” The arrival of the app’s local services operation in the United States would expand an initiative that began last year in Southeast Asia. Working alongside creators in countries like Indonesia and Thailand, TikTok offered vouchers for restaurants, hotels, and flights.

Bringing similar deals to America would help TikTok solidify its reputation as a company that supports small businesses. That bit of positive PR has been pivotal for TikTok as the app looks to demonstrate its value and stave off federal regulatory efforts. At the start of 2025, TikTok suggested that U.S. small business owners would lose $1 billion if the app was subjected to a nationwide ban.

Beyond its benefits for businesses, TikTok’s push into local services would also introduce new partnership opportunities for creators, who would be able to dole out discounts for their favorite businesses. The move would also reduce TikTok’s reliance on its namesake app, which received significant scrutiny from global authorities.

This is not the first time TikTok has looked to introduce a new unit based around brick-and-mortar shopping. In 2023, the app began operating as a fulfillment service by selling and shipping products. A grocery delivery service that resembles Instacart started receiving attention later that year.

Can TikTok evolve into a “do everything” company that competes with U.S. retail giants like Amazon? The app’s controversial ownership could hold that plan back, but there are plenty of small businesses that would jump at the chance to dispense deals on the For You Page.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, TikTok by Sam Gutelle
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A platform that first launched more than 20 years ago is making a comeback, and one of its original founders is involved. Kevin Rose is reviving content aggregator Digg with help from Alexis Ohanian, the Co-Founder of longtime Digg rival Reddit.

Back in the 2000s and early 2010s, Digg was a popular content aggregator that collected the internet’s top stories and strangest curiosities on a centralized front page. Like Reddit, Digg operated on a democratic system. By “digging” items, users pushed them onto the platform’s homepage. A corresponding “bury” option deranked unpopular posts.

Though Digg reached 40 million monthly users at its peak, it eventually lost market share to Reddit and other social media platforms. Rose and his fellow co-founders departed by 2012, when Betaworks acquired Digg for just $500,000.

At that point, Digg seemed destined for internet obscurity, but more than a decade later, Rose has reacquired his old stomping ground and plans to revive it as a platform that will “restore the spirit of discovery and genuine community that made the early web a fun and exciting place to be,” according to a press release.

Rose’s partner for Digg 2.0 will be Ohanian, who has backed the platform through his firm Seven Seven Six. Given the rivalry between Digg and Reddit, the two tech execs make for strange bedfollows, and they acknowledged their bygone beef in an introductory video. “I really disliked you for a long time,” Ohanian said.

“Rightfully so,” Rose quipped.

Ever since Ohanian and his co-founders sold Reddit to Condé Nast Publications in 2006, he has shifted his focus to investing. Seven Seven Six has been a regular backer of creator economy companies and web3 ventures. Ohanian and Rose’s vision for Digg involves a different emerging technology: Generative AI.

In a statement, Ohanian argued that “AI should handle the grunt work in the background while humans focus on what they do best: building real connections.” The resulting platform, slated to launch in the coming weeks, will pair the early internet spirit of discovery with an infrastructure powered by today’s technological innovations.

Rose and Ohanian are right to recognize that today’s internet users are hungry for the curated browsing experience offered by 2000s social media pioneers like Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. Content aggregators like Zack D. Films, for example, regularly rank among the most-watched creators on YouTube.

But an emphasis on AI may hinder the new Digg’s mission more than it helps. Consumers are exhausted by AI-generated suggestions that have replaced human-centered ranking methods, so much so that Google users are installing browser extensions that remove AI results from search pages. An ill-fated redesign was a big reason why the first iteration of Digg crumbled, so Rose and Ohanian should take care to avoid going overboard with their “innovations.”

If they do want to fold the hottest new tech into their platform, they should take a look at the decentralized web. That’s where many of the users who miss the old-school web browsing experience have gone, and companies like Flipboard are rushing in bring Digg-style content aggregation to that space.

If Ohanian doesn’t make web3 content aggregation work on Digg, he could still have a chance to implement that sort of system on TikTok. The ex-Reddit exec recently joined Frank McCourt’s “people’s bid,” which is attempting to acquire the ByteDance-owned app.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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It’s been a couple years since Twitch was inundated with the “gamba meta,” where offshore, online casinos like Stake.com were paying streamers like xQc millions of dollars to gamble live in front of their viewers. Twitch later cracked down on gambling content, driving prolific creators of it to rival sites like Kick and Rumble.

Now it’s YouTube‘s turn. The platform announced this week that it’s no longer allowing content creators to direct users to “unapproved” gambling websites, and it’s also age-restricting all videos that depict and/or promote online gambling sites, so no one under the age of 18 will be able to watch them.

YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle told CNN the platform has “strengthened our policies that prohibit content directing viewers to unapproved gambling websites or applications.”

According to YouTube, “unapproved” gambling sites are those that don’t meet local legal requirements and haven’t been reviewed for legitimacy by YouTube or its parent Google.

If a site isn’t approved, creators aren’t allowed to direct their viewers to it at all. That means their videos can’t contain any verbal references, URLs, affiliate codes, images, text, or logos related to the site. Creators who link out to an unapproved site will likely get a TOS violation. Rack up enough of them, and it puts your channel in danger of permanent deletion.

It’s worth noting that even if a site is approved, YouTube still bans creators from using “sensational language” that promises things like guaranteed winnings or loss prevention. And, as we mentioned above, any content that promotes online casinos (even approved ones) is now age-restricted, meaning it can’t be watched by viewers who are under 18 and/or not logged in to a YouTube account.

Overall, this policy sounds close to what Twitch instated in 2022. Rather than wholesale banning all gambling websites, it only banned those “that aren’t licensed either in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient customer protections,” as it described at the time. Though limited, the policy was enough to oust players like Stake.com, which is based in Curaçao (and whose owner Ed Craven also owns Kick).

We expect there will be a similar ousting at YouTube, where content about sports betting and other kinds of betting–like the growing use of sites like Polymarket and Kalshi, where people can wager on everything from U.S. presidential election outcomes to whether we’re all going to die to that asteroid in 2032–has become more common.

Obviously people are free to do with their money what they please, but we’ve already seen how watching content creators splash millions of dollars on digital slots can negatively affect viewers. And while YouTube’s policy doesn’t curb gambling content entirely, it might limit viewers’ exposure to sketchy sites that encourage them to place risky bets.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, YouTube by James Hale
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