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.
Creators may have escaped the Substack tax, but now they’re facing a price increase of at least $10 per month.
Most microdramas are vertical content, but not all vertical content feels like a real microdrama.
Users will soon be able to shop from other retailers without leaving TikTok, as well as use an AI chatbot to find and purchase products.
TikTok is often associated with short form video, but it has also reshaped the online shopping landscape. As I wrote last year, scrolling has become synonymous with shopping, and perhaps more than any other platform, TikTok has figured out how to bridge the gap.
Soon, YouTubers will be able to A/B test multiple cuts of the same video to see which hook, script, or edit performs best with their audiences. The company told me the different versions will only be shown to a very small segment of people — but as Marques Brownlee explains, it could get weird. Will people argue in comments while watching two different videos? What happens to timestamps? And who’s the feature really for?
The company says it will “reduce the reach” of Shorts content that’s re-uploaded without significant changes in an effort to prioritize “original content.” Instagram has made similar promises — but that hasn’t stopped swarms of anonymous accounts from taking over social media feeds through a practice known as clipping. I wrote about the ecosystem in May.
With the new messaging feature, announced today alongside some new tools for YouTubers, creators will have a Linktree inbox where they can respond to messages, and Linktree will highlight potentially important messages like brand deals or collaboration opportunities.
You’ll be able to return stuff you bought on TikTok by dropping it off at one of UPS’s Happy Returns locations, without a box or printed shipping label, similar to Amazon’s label-free returns. Reuters reports UPS is offering the no-box, no-label returns through a new deal with TikTok.
Update: Reuters later updated its story to remove the word “exclusive.”
After bringing its plugin to ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Slack, Adobe’s app is now available in Google’s chatbot too. Just tag “@Adobe” in Gemini with your request after installing the plugin, and it’ll surface the best Creative Suite tools for editing photos, generating marketing designs, and more.
Choy shared a screenshot of the ad on X that appears nearly identical to one of his videos, except the person in the ad is white. NPR’s Bobby Allyn reported in a separate post that the ad is real, adding, “A Kalshi rep says the ad is old and that they no longer use AI-generated ads.”
People have been asking for 4K, and Rode is giving it to them. The Rodecaster Video, Video S, and Video Core now have a 4K capture mode. They’re also getting expanded syncing capabilities with the Rodecaster Pro II and Duo for fully integrated audio/video production setups.
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This builds on the feature introduced in May which allows users to build a custom video feed based on AI prompt descriptions of your interests, moods, or favorite topics. The expansion means you can create and save more than one custom feed to your home screen, with YouTube saying it’ll be available for users in the US on web, mobile, and TVs “soon.”
YouTube is expanding its likeness detection tool to include not just facial matches, but vocal matches too. At the company’s Made on YouTube event on Wednesday, executives teased the upcoming expansion that will allow creators to monitor potential synthetic soundalikes posted to the platform.
The original likeness detection feature started testing with creators and eventually was opened to anyone with a YouTube account — the company has essentially created its own deepfake monitoring and takedown regime.
Charges against the 20 year old “looksmaxxing” manosphere influencer (real name: Braden Peters) were filed on September 8th, and include one count of rape, one count of drugging someone for sexual intercourse, and one count of procuring alcohol for someone underage. Arraignment is set for October 14th.
After launching for iPhone last year, a free Android version of the Premiere mobile app is now available on the Google Play store. Devices need at least 5GB of RAM and to be running Android 13 or later, and the app provides a multi-track editing timeline with tools for visual effects, audio, transitions, and more.
As part of a few new podcast-focused features for Threads, there are new podcast cards that will show up in posts and profiles that make the podcast stand out. Could be useful for creators trying to promote their show.
The comedian, podcast host, and, yes, YouTuber on the state of media today.
The AI coaching feature is only available to a small group of streamers right now. Unlike Twitch’s generative AI training toggle, which is opt out, the company says this feature would be opt-in if it’s ever expanded beyond this test.
Content creators say their videos are fair use, but one controversial company begs to differ.
A 2025 lawsuit claiming TikTok violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act will now go to trial after Judge Cory Liu granted the state’s request for a partial summary judgment on Thursday.
The state had argued that TikTok said it would remove content with drugs, gambling, or graphic injuries but instead designated it “hard to find,” and said a Restricted Mode setting filtered out content that was inappropriate for minors while employees internally acknowledged it didn’t work as well as advertised.
That’s a 13 percent increase from the same time last year, according to Adobe’s Q3 earnings report released on Thursday. The company also reached more than one billion monthly active users across its suite of software, as it fills out Photoshop, Premiere, Express, Acrobat, Lightroom, and other apps with new AI tools.
Tagged posts will appear in reverse-chronological order on your grid, but you can also reorder them if you want.
Crooked Ideas, the nonprofit arm of Crooked Media, is tapping Chaotic Era author Kyle Tharp to head up the iniative, which will support existing political influencers and focus on creating content related to issues like AI safety, climate change, healthcare, and “enshittification,” according to a report from Semafor.
Recent US Open shenanigans and YouTubers’ disastrous golf ad show a risky relationship between brands and influencers.
If you liked the pilot animatic for Kiana Khansmith’s Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to Be a Magical Girl, you’re going to love the Mercury Filmworks-produced, fully animated version of the first episode that just hit YouTube.
As reported by Wired, more than 200 US-based workers at the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia, will join Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9415 after management declined to voluntarily recognize the union in July.
Organizing committee member Bryan Davis called it a “huge milestone” and said:
We continue our petition for recognition in the U.K. and hope to see more jurisdiction-specific units call for voluntary recognition in the coming weeks and months. Solidarity will continue to drive our discussions, planning, and actions as we begin working on our collective goals for contract bargaining to support all WMF workers regardless of legal jurisdiction, job duty, or hours of employment.
More than three years after Tate and his brother were arrested and indicted in Romania on charges of human trafficking, Reuters reports the DIICOT prosecuting unit has indicted Tate again. They’ve charged Tate for “trafficking minors, money laundering, sex with a minor and witness tampering and his brother Tristan for complicity.”
Both Tates were arrested in Miami in July after British authorities requested their extradition, and they are currently in jail in the US.
A new feature rolling out “over the next month” lets you leave comments by recording a 60-second voice memo. TikTok is also bringing polls, Live Photos, and photo carousels with up to nine images to the comments section.
Charming celeb interviewer Amelia Dimoldenberg announced today that she’ll be wrapping her viral Chicken Shop Date video series with a few final dates. Will Andrew Garfield swoop in to sweep her off her feet before the shop closes for good? We can only hope.
Adobe for Slack is available starting today for Slack Business Plus and Enterprise Plus teams, allowing users to make or edit images, videos, and documents directly in Slack. It works like Adobe’s chatbot — describe the outcome you want to Slackbot, and it’ll call on more than 70 tools from Creative Cloud apps and Firefly to complete the task.
A selection of Binsky’s videos will appear on Netflix starting September 19th, similar to the streamer’s deals with Kevin Langue, Nick DiGiovanni, and Mythical Entertainment, as reported by Variety. YouTube has reportedly offered creators millions not to cross-post their videos to Netflix.
HarperCollins probably dropped a pretty penny to get Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson and James Patterson to collaborate on their newly released novel, The Most Dangerous Games. But Semafor reports that the publisher might have a hard time making that money back due to the book’s very, very low pre-sales.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly highlighted the book’s pre-sale numbers rather than post-launch sales.
He admitted to being “scared” but excited about his new YouTube channel in his first video, but said that after 30 years making movies, he wants to “undo whatever stigmas are in my head or in anybody’s head.” Shyamalan dives into his Signs filmmaking diary in his second video on the channel.
His latest book, The Nudge, tells the tale of a man who can’t seem to outrun a mysterious evil.
As AI infiltrates the electronic dance music scene, a callout culture is brewing.
