Source: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter
Meta is deprioritizing its creator payment programs in favor of Reels, which operate under a different economic model that doesn't require revenue guarantees to creators. This allows the platform to avoid the 30% payouts it promised during the creator economy boom. TikTok has made a similar move, retreating from its creator fund. Both platforms have concluded that paying creators for attention is less valuable than controlling algorithmic amplification and ad inventory directly. For creators like those at The News Movement, the original pitch of platform-as-publisher-partner was conditional on platforms' profitability, not principle.