Content Creators Discuss Struggles of Digital Media at IOP Forum

During an Institute of Politics panel Monday evening, online content creators discussed the future of digital media, the looming TikTok ban, and the funding challenges digital media creators face.

Panelists included Jessica S. Yellin, a former CNN White House correspondent and founder of “News Not Noise,” V Spehar, the creator behind the TikTok account “Under the Desk News,” and science journalist Joss Fong, co-host of the “Howtown” channel on YouTube. The forum was moderated by Harvard Kennedy School Fellow Julia Angwin. Angwin, who won a Pulitzer Prize working at the Wall Street Journal, founded “Proof News” in 2014.

Though many digital media creators have built lucrative following on TikTok, Yellin, who primarily posts on Instagram, said she has resisted switching to TikTok because her national security sources had warned her of its potential national security concerns.

“When TikTok emerged, they told me right away, ‘Don’t put that on your phone. Don’t engage with that.’” Yellin said.

“Because of its nexus with China and what I’ve been informed by people on all sides of the aisle — left, right, far-left, far-right — I am not personally comfortable driving my audience there,” Yellin added.

Yellin’s comments spurred debate amongst the panel.

Spehar, who has 3.5 million followers on TikTok, was one of the strongest opponents to the TikTok ban. Spehar said they approached President Biden’s National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to ask whether the app was a security threat.

“I went to AOC and I was like, ‘Girl you gotta tell me if there is something,’” Spehar said. “‘If you tell me that something I am doing is going to hurt the American people I will communicate to them that this is dangerous.”

But according to Spehar, Ocasio-Cortez said there was no cause for concern. Similarly, Spehar said Kirby told them that he “did not see a need for a unilateral platform ban to control the concerns that they had with security.”

Still, Yellin remained unconvinced.

“I think all of these platforms are corrosive to our democracy,” she said.

The panelists also addressed the slow decline of legacy media, as more and more Americans get their news from digital media sources.

“One of the reasons trust is so low in legacy media is this voice of god situation, where it’s like, ‘We are here to give you the facts,’” Angwin said.

Angwin said she didn’t see many consequences for journalists in legacy media who distribute misinformation and abuse their audience’s trust. In contrast, Angwin pointed to how digital creators are forced to interact with their viewers more and respond to their audience’s criticisms.

“I think this is a place where legacy journalism is the weakest because you can’t get kicked out of being a journalist, and someone who has abused the audience’s trust cannot suffer consequences which the audience understands,” Angwin said.

The panelists also talked about the financial struggles online creators face, which limit their ability to grow their digital platforms.

Spehar said that creators face a choice. “You can go the advertiser route or the audience support route,” they said.

But filming advertisements often raises concerns from viewers about creators’ trustworthiness and authenticity.

Spehar anecdotally shared how they received significant backlash from their audience after posting a Pizza Hut advertisement, because it had been added to a list made by the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement against Israel.

"I thought I had picked a real good sponsor, and then they were like, ‘No, they are bad,’" Spehar said.

Yellin said “the challenges of being a creator are limitless.”

“I am the face of it. I’m a reporter. I’m the entrepreneur. I’m the person negotiating. I’m the person talking to sponsors,” Yellin said.

As a digital creator, Yellin said she has to trust her own news judgement, instead of relying on editors.

“I always say the biggest joy of what I do is I get to decide what counts as news and the hardest part of what I do is I have to decide what counts as news,” Yellin said.