Considering #Threads is run by the same people, I'm increasingly convinced that #Meta will use Threads to exploit the free labor of creators in the same way it does with Instagram.
I have seen this discourse from time to time on here: people being horribly condescending about "content creators".
What this condescending tone utterly fails to capture is that many of these "content creators" are independent workers trying to use social media to make a living.
Meta is not their employer. But they are extremely dependent on the decisions Meta takes. And the power relationship between creators and Meta is, by a wide margin, in favor of Meta.
There is an army of content creators out there. If one gives up, Meta doesn't really care: there is now enough "content" for Instagram to push it to lurkers and "regular" users. Next to ads.
This is why the power dynamics is so tilted in favor of Meta.
Content creators can't even unionize. There is actually very little they can do.
Why do you think Meta is trying to distance itself from news and politics?
It's probably not financially interesting, for many reasons.
But there may be another issue at play: power. Media are big corporations. Politicians have power. They can fight back, and inflict real damage to Meta.
Indie photographers or writers? What can they do, except, and I quote, "cry"?
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