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.
The soon-to-be-former CEO on AI, social media, and the end of an era
This is the first of 1,200 school districts facing off against social media companies.
Open source tech creators Diolinux have released a free patch that rearranges the Gimp UI to resemble Adobe’s Photoshop editing software. That familiar layout should make it easier for long-time Photoshop users to make the switch. Installation instructions for Linux and Windows are available on GitHub.
A new investigation by the New York Times has discovered that social media influencers are collecting tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, to back candidates, endorse policies, and attack political enemies. But where that money is coming from isn’t clear, and campaigns are embracing the secrecy.
The Federal Trade Commission, which regulates deceptive business practices, requires influencers to disclose payments for promoting commercial products and services but, it says, does not regulate political advertisements.
NFL teams doing schedule release videos has become a little tradition — and while the Cardinals are getting ruthlessly dunked on for doing AI slop, the Packers are making it clear theirs was all hand-made. (An increasing trend in advertising overall.) Anyway, disclosure: I am from Wisconsin, and the Bears still suck.
The UK’s competition and markets regulator has cleared the deal to go ahead, on the condition that Shutterstock sells its global editorial business, including Backgrid and Splash. This clears a path to finalize the merger, as it was already granted “unconditional antitrust clearance” by the US DOJ in February.
AI is empowering a generation of vibe coders to build exactly what they want. The personal software revolution is here.
Just kidding! But some news organizations are offering prediction market affiliate codes — and publishing thousands of stories pushing gambling deals. Popular Information reports that news orgs owned by Advance Local (including The Oregonian and The Cleveland Plain Dealer) are on track to run more than 14,000 pieces of “gambling slop” this year promoting deals for sportsbooks, casinos, and prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi.
[Popular Information]
In a January filing spotted by MacRumors, Apple disclosed its purchase of Color.io — a grading tool used by filmmakers and photographers — and the hiring of its sole developer. Color.io shut down last year after its creator, Jonathan Ochmann, said he’s “been offered an opportunity to work alongside a company whose products have shaped and inspired me.”
Adobe’s updated Premiere video editing app, which launched on iOS last September, will finally arrive on Android “this summer.” It’ll include some Android-exclusive templates and effects designed for YouTube Shorts.
There are also Android-exclusive tools coming to Instagram’s Edits app, including AI upscaling and automatic audio track separation.
[Google Blog]
Starting today, US users will be able to book hotels, tours, and ticketed experiences directly in the app. Travel content is a major category on the platform, so it makes sense for TikTok to want a hand in the actual booking process, not just discovery. Content creators will also be able to earn commissions from reservations made through their content.
The data mining company with extensive defense contracts is making merch to signal which side you’re on.
The journalist and author of I Am Not a Robot on her year living with AI and starting a new media company.
A new wave of writers is porting their publications to rivals like Ghost and Beehiiv.
Earlier this week I wrote about the social media “clippers” that get paid to semi-covertly promote podcasts, TV shows, and other media through anonymous accounts. One of the clipping campaigns was for Perplexity AI — but nobody can tell me who, exactly, is responsible for the clips:
Reached via email, Perplexity distanced itself from clipping company Vyro, with spokesperson Jesse Dwyer saying Perplexity “has no knowledge” of the company and “takes any unauthorized use of the Perplexity name or logo very seriously.” When asked to confirm Perplexity had not run or authorized clipping campaigns, Dwyer initially stopped responding to The Verge. After publication, Dwyer told The Verge it was “not accurate” to say Perplexity launched the clipping campaign.
So who did?
The beloved British environmentalist has his own Google Doodle when you search his name today. He’s celebrating with a special concert in London, and a thank you message to fans: “I had rather thought that I would celebrate my 100th birthday quietly, but it seems that many of you have had other ideas.”
A TikTok spokesperson tells Business Insider that the feature will now identify products in a video, instead of attempting to summarize what happens in it.
Users have reported some wildly inaccurate AI video descriptions, like one that described Charli D’Amelio as a “collection of various blueberries with different toppings,” according to Business Insider.
The new “productivity agent” connects with Adobe’s image and audio generative AI models and powers conversational document editing features in Acrobat, alongside unlocking new sharing capabilities in PDF Spaces. This is just the latest example of Adobe’s commitment to slap AI agents into all of its apps.
They cut up podcasts, videos, and events into infinite shorter versions. How long can it last?
The hit DualShot Recorder app just switched from an increasingly rare one-time fee to a subscription-based model. The app’s developer — also a notable squirrel video creator — says he made the change to “support the long-term sustainability of the business.” Subscriptions come for us all, I guess.
Alongside Quips, Patreon is also getting collaboration posts, a redesigned Home feed, and a feed just showing creators that you follow. The company initially introduced the features last year, but now they’re available to “the majority of creators and fans.”
Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) have written a letter to TikTok USDS CEO Adam Presser, urging the platform to estimate users’ age using their account activity or require parents to confirm their child’s age. The lawmakers also suggest that TikTok works with OS-makers like Apple and Google to implement age verification:
For example, if a user is designated as a child in their iCloud account, meaning they are under 13, Apple could share that information with TikTok and the user therefore would not be able to create a TikTok account.
Correction, April 22nd: The name is Josh Gottheimer, not John.
The Washington Post analyzed more than 1,400 of the far-right provocateur’s streams and found that he’s generating more than $400,000 in revenue. Much of those donations are coming from people who are struggling economically, including one 57-year-old Air Force veteran who told the Post she thought he was struggling financially — and who is struggling herself.
After a back-and-forth in court in 2024, it appears that The Onion really might take control of Alex Jones’ Infowars. The New York Times reports that under a new deal, The Onion will strike a licensing deal for Infowars intellectual property (though a judge still needs to approve it). The Onion is already promoting the new project, which will be under the creative direction of Tim Heidecker.
NPR issued prediction market guidance to staff, according to media reporter Ben Mullin, banning employees from betting on news events as well as NPR-related topics (like future Tiny Desk guests — yes, there’s a small market for that).
I reported last week that newsrooms are adding prediction market-specific rules to their code of ethics, even as some of those same news outlets partner with platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi.
Why Melanie Perkins is confident Canva can take on the big AI players.
The new Adobe Premiere Color Mode, which is available in the latest Premiere beta, is a color grading system built inside the editing program replacing Lumetri. The Asus ProArt validation extends to full HDR editing workflows with the new Premiere feature.
Rachel Youn makes humanlike, kinetic floral sculptures out of used household electronics
CEO Sarah Personette’s big bet on the place where influencers and reporters might meet
