As the creator economy continues to grow up, industry operatives need stronger protections to secure their shared livelihood. A new Creator Bill of Rights aims to provide those invaluable safeguards. That’s the name of a proposal introduced by Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), who is working with Creators 4 Mental Health to provide institutional support to platform-based professionals.
As stated in its body, the Creator Bill of Rights aims to deliver “fair treatment, transparency, and economic opportunity” for the “ten million Americans” who work “in the modern platform-based economy.” Several recurring themes appear in the seven-point proposal: The document focuses on stable benefits for creators, clear terms for revenue-sharing agreements with platforms, cross-platform guardrails, and protections against evolving threats like algorithmic deranking and generative AI.
Creators 4 Mental Health Founder and CEO Shira Lazar, the creator behind the long-running show What’s Trending, described the proposed Bill of Rights as a lifeline for professionals who are currently operating “without basic protections or frameworks of support.” In a statement of his own, Khanna — who represents the district that includes the headquarters of tech titans like Alphabet and Apple — echoed Lazar’s sentiment.
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“The digital economy is a rapidly growing industry that supports over 200 million creators globally,” Khanna said. “We need laws to protect Americans who earn their livelihoods on these platforms and ensure they are able to secure basic rights. I’m proud to introduce a resolution that will help increase creators’ access to healthcare and workplace protections.”
The question of collective creator advocacy has been discussed for years. Early organizational attempts, such as Hank Green’s Internet Creators Guild, struggled to gain traction. Despite those hiccups, industry leaders like former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear argued that creators need a union of their own.
The current state of the digital economy has further amplified those calls. Creators are central to a $250 billion global industry, and their political influence is rising as well. President Biden hosted a White House summit to improve his administration’s relationship with creators, and Representative Khanna has held his own conversations with contemporary tastemakers. President Trump continued his predecessor’s outreach by inviting creators to apply for White House press credentials. In a political landscape defined by its stark divides, support for creators has become a rare bipartisan cause.
Numerous advocacy groups have thrown their weight behind those federal efforts. The Creators Guild of America has established itself as a new service organization for the titular group, and SAG-AFTRA has announced its plan to invite social media influencers into its ranks.
Creators 4 Mental Health is another organization building stronger foundations for social media professionals. After establishing mental health care for creators and bringing attention to burnout through a series of Times Square billboards, Lazar’s initiative published a sweeping study on the subject of creator mental health. Among other findings, the study found that 89% of creators lack access to specialized services they need to battle boogeymen like burnout.
With Congressional backing, those critical assets can become as plentiful and ubiquitous as they need to be. More details about Khanna’s proposal can be found (where else?) on TikTok.
