Did MrBeast steal from creators?

Hey creator,

I’ve spent a week in Australia’s Red Centre – Uluru!

Yep, it is pretty magnificent and something everyone should experience in their lifetime.

There’s something about being near a 450 million-year-old + monolith and celebrating your mum’s 60th that makes you think about time and how important it is to go after as much as you can while you’re here on earth.

And now that we’ve hit the middle of the year, what do you want to make sure you achieve before we say cya to 2025?

I made a post on LinkedIn stating that if it’s my goal to receive an invite to next year’s Cannes Lions Festival, then I need to apply a focused strategy. That includes increasing my social presence across platforms.

So if you’re interested in how I navigate that, you can follow me on IG and LinkedIn.

Let’s get into it 👇

If you want a more in depth experience, I hold 1:1 strategy sessions, which you can schedule here: https://calendly.com/smalleyjess/powerhour 

This issue will bring you up to speed on what’s happening in the creator economy:

• Quick Fire news headlines

• Worth The Read news stories

• Social Media Updates that you need to know about

• Check out my READ, LISTEN + WATCH recommendations for this week

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Quick Fire 🧨

• TikTok is testing its own version of Instagram’s ‘broadcast channels’ 

• Facebook is asking to use Meta AI on photos in your camera roll that you haven’t yet shared

• Trump backs Meta in dispute over Canada’s Digital Services Tax

• Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualise how an outfit might look on you

• Meta in talks to buy AI voice startup PlayAI in push for talent

• Australia’s Online safety authority wants YouTube included in social media ban 

• Meta wins AI copyright lawsuit as US judge rules against authors

• Snap acquires Saturn, a social calendar app for high school and college students.

• TikTok, Instagram plot TV apps following YouTube’s success

• Alix Earle’s podcast returns 4 months after leaving Alex Cooper’s Unwell network

Worth The Read

The growing divide between big and small creators

MrBeast has found himself in the middle of some fresh new controversy after being accused of stealing from YouTube creators. 

Why are YouTube Creators upset?  

The tool, developed by his platform Viewstats, lets users remix existing YouTube thumbnails by inserting themselves into the style or even the exact composition of other creators’ work.

Hmm. 

This feels like stealing to me. 

MrBeast has subsequently removed endorsement videos from his channel, redirecting people to support artist work and promises to making a tool that supports creators. I think he’s a bit caught off guard by the fact that people are upset about this. 

What does this mean? 

Apart from stating the obvious that the YouTube world loves and benefits from a pile-on, these moments freak creators out. 

Creating a great thumbnail takes hours of trial, error, and instinct. It’s a form of creative labour that’s often undervalued.

Which brings into question, should someone else profit from your individual taste and time? 

If creators at MrBeast’s scale opt for AI instead of hiring designers, it sets a tone that speed and efficiency matter more than original effort. That only widens the gap between big and small creators.

There’s still a strong culture of respect for craft on YouTube. Viewers admire originality even if they can’t always verify it, and tend to call out creators who cut corners with AI.

Socially Updated

Instagram

• now allows Reels up to 20 minutes long.

• Edits has added keyframes, voice cleanup, and over 30 text effects.

• built a bot to help businesses boost their accounts.

YouTube 

• users must be 16 years or older if they want to live stream from the platform as of July 22nd. Those between 13-15 years will have to be accompanied by an adult.

• overhauled its advanced analytics with a sidebar for quicker filtering and metric customisation.

TikTok 

• added Fan Clubs that add game-like mechanics to livestreams.

• added the ability to allow advertisers to use your posts in their ads, and to remove unauthorised sounds from your posts while keeping other sounds like effects and speech.

The Dig

READ: If you strip back the wine clinking, exclusive-ish image of Cannes Lions Creativity Festival, you’ll notice that the 4-day event marked a subtle, yet seismic shift in the way brands value creators. It seems this has created a boost of confidence amongst creator entrepreneurs, who are increasingly wondering whether it’s worth seeking validation from legacy media when, in actual fact, they should be validating themselves as business owners. The NY Times writes about its own experience at the festival.

LISTEN: Should the internet be anonymous? This is a question. Shameless pick apart this question after a big-name Aussie influencer and mum hires a Private Investigator to unmask her trolls. I think more of this conversation needs to be had, considering more of us are building brands online (…not to mention the fact that our kids are basically born into the internet).

WATCH: MrBeast just released one of the longest challenges he’s ever filmed. The setup is simple - stay inside the red MrBeast circle until you’ve lost 100lb, and you’ll win $250,000. Like every good story, all the stuff that happens in between is unexpected, to the level even the production team couldn’t have anticipated.