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Creators

YouTube, Instagram, SoundCloud, and other online platforms are changing the way people create and consume media. The Verge's Creators section covers the people using these platforms, what they're making, and how those platforms are changing (for better and worse) in response to the vloggers, influencers, podcasters, photographers, musicians, educators, designers, and more who are using them. The Verge’s Creators section also looks at the way creators are able to turn their projects into careers — from Patreons and merch sales, to ads and Kickstarters — and the ways they’re forced to adapt to changing circumstances as platforms crack down on bad actors and respond to pressure from users and advertisers. New platforms are constantly emerging, and existing ones are ever-changing — what creators have to do to succeed is always going to look different from one year to the next.

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Twitch coulda used this a lot sooner.

Twitch has added a new content classification label for “politics and sensitive social issues.” The addition comes days before the US presidential election day but long after a number of streamers have gotten in trouble for their commentary on the war in Israel and Lebanon. The new label is required for streams that discuss topics such as, “elections, civic integrity, and war or military conflict.”


Twitch Safety Center

[safety.twitch.tv]

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Instagram
Get your DMs under control.

Instagram is adding more filters for the inbox so creators can sort through endless DM requests. The update includes a way to filter by account type (verified accounts, businesses, etc.) and to sort by recency or the number of followers the sender has.


Why is Nintendo targeting this YouTuber?

Russ Crandall is Retro Game Corps, and his job is at stake.

MrBeast’s pitch decks are quite ugly.

Court documents from the MrBeast Burger lawsuit revealed pitch decks prepared by his team for potential brand partners, and Business Insider went through them.

You get the sense that his team didn’t try very hard when putting decks together: slides have weird layouts, overlapping text, and are borderline unreadable. And maybe that’s the biggest takeaway here — the MrBeast brand sells itself.


MrBeast slide deck showing his follower count, views, and other audience metrics.

1/3

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A new generation is discovering Trump’s Access Hollywood tape.

Young people who were kids when Trump was caught bragging about groping women are hearing the recording for the first time via TikTok. Teen Vogue compiled some videos and comments:

i was in 7th grade in 2016 and i don’t [remember] much from it, but now i’m 20, educated, and ready to vote for the first time.”


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The big business of Halloween music.

If you’re someone who loves to play Christmas music a full month before the actual holiday, great news: the music industry is trying to make Halloween music A Thing.

My friend group’s Music League theme for this week was Halloween-ish songs (among the submissions: The Specials, David Bowie, Death from Above 1979). What’s on your playlist?


How annoying is your AI clone?

Katie Notopoulos over at Business Insider used Meta’s personal chatbot feature to create a bot of herself trained on her posts — and its main personality trait, she says, was “millennial cringe.” There’s also an incredible follow-up when Katie realizes her bot has been trained on her Threads posts, which are overrun with rage bait.


Here’s Tim Walz playing Crazy Taxi.

Governor Tim Walz just found time to make some CUH-RAZY MONEY during his Twitch stream with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He picked Axel, which surprised me; I definitely had him pegged as a Gus guy.

They never did finish their Madden match, but AOC says she’s hoping to start streaming regularly.


Animated GIF showing Governor Tim Walz playing Crazy Taxi while AOC watches.
“Are ya ready? Here we go!”
GIF: Twitch
Walz picked the Vikings, naturally.

The Twitch Madden matchup between Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Buffalo Bills and Governor Tim Walz’s Minnesota Vikings just went into half-time.

Neither has scored yet. Walz got the first drive, but punted on the fourth down. AOC didn’t make it to the end-zone either, but picked an interception during Walz’s second drive.


A screenshot showing Governor Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playing Madden NFL 25.
The game is on.
Screenshot: Twitch
AOC might do a Twitch stream with Senator Bernie Sanders, too.

While streaming on Twitch, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she’s tried to get the former Presidential candidate on board joining her for a stream.

VP candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz hasn’t arrived yet, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to watch; AOC is playing Stardew Valley and, as I write this, discussing the importance of Social Security.


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Twitter
AOC is brushing up on Madden.

She’ll play the game with Tim Walz on a Twitch stream that kicks off at 3PM ET on Sunday.


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Facebook is filled with shady political merch.

A t-shirt company is running thousands of ads claiming to donate a portion of sales to Trump, Harris, and other political causes, 404 reports. In reality, the company appears to be based abroad — which means it’s either lying about making campaign contributions, or illegally making campaign contributions.


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Twitter
MrBeast is again attaching his name to disgusting food.

Last year the YouTuber sued his business partner in charge of MrBeast Burgers, after customers complained about “inedible” and “revolting” food. Undeterred, this year MrBeast partnered with Logan Paul and KSI to launch Lunchly, a line of Lunchables-style snack boxes — that are apparently full of mold. If your kid asks for them maybe show them these pictures.


You may start seeing a new TikTok feed in your app.

The company is adding a STEM feed for all US, Great Britain, and Ireland-based users that surfaces technology and science content. The feed itself isn’t new, but now it will be enabled by default.

An educational feed could be a way for TikTok to push back against a potential ban in the US and lawsuits that say the app is dangerous to kids.


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Donald Trump will reportedly be on The Joe Rogan Experience.

Trump is set to record the podcast episode on Friday, according to Politico.

Kamala Harris could appear on Rogan’s podcast at some point, too; last week, Reuters reported that Kamala Harris’ campaign has met with Rogan’s team.


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The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch has been arrested.

Mike Jeffries, the longtime head of the mall fashion brand, has been charged with sex trafficking. Multiple men say they were sexually exploited at events held by Jeffries and associates, according to a BBC investigation.

A&F has an unsavory history involving racism and discrimination, recently chronicled in a 2022 documentary. Even so, business has been booming for the company in recent years.


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Youtube
Four generations of flower makers.

For over 100 years, M&S Schmalberg, a factory in New York’s garment district, has made artificial fabric flowers — the only remaining business of its kind in the US.

I stumbled upon this short documentary by Joshua Charow and was mesmerized by the detail and precision of this craft. Schmalberg’s flowers have adorned clothing worn by everyone from Met Gala attendees to hotel employees.


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Twitch disabled email signups from Israeli and Palestinian users for an entire year.

Twitch reports it blocked new email-verified accounts in Israel and Palestine in the wake of the October 7th attacks... but forgot to remove the block, and only did so after an inquiry by 404 Media. New accounts verified with a phone number still worked, and Twitch’s apology / explanation for the oversight says it disabled the feature to prevent graphic imagery from appearing on the site.


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This era of content moderation is over.

Over the last few years, tech companies have rolled back transparency tools, laid off trust and safety teams, and submitted to right-wing, Republican-led campaigns calling for less moderation online.

CNN has a deep dive into how some platforms have loosened rules to permit disinformation and other harmful content, especially around 2020 election lies.


The tech YouTuber who opened a coffee shop

On The Vergecast: why one creator decided to make a career pivot and how they’re trying to make it all make sense.

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Evan Vucci, I’m so sorry.

The Associated Press chief photographer took the indelible photo of Donald Trump right after an assassination attempt that’s since been used (without permission) on everything from cheap t-shirts to digital icons.

$100,000 Trump-themed watches is apparently going too far: AP, which owns the rights to the image, told Wired it sent a cease and desist to the company making the unauthorized timepieces.


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Twitter
What is a photo? (mashup edition).

Adobe snuck another experimental tool demo into its MAX event that can blend multiple photographs together by just clicking a button.

The results look a little artificial, but it can take a while for “Sneaks” projects to actually appear in Adobe apps like Photoshop — so the capabilities may improve when (or if) it does get released to the public.