Why creators should care about politics

“The creator economy [is framed] as a relatively new phenomenon, but it's still existing within capitalist systems that are generations old.”

Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.

“Influencers are workers!” I shout into the void until I’m hoarse. —Kate

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Many creators have a complicated relationship with politics. They’re often among the first public figures asked to speak up whenever an issue is dominating headlines, but also the first ones to be criticized for “bringing politics into it” (this arc can play out exclusively in one post’s comments). Creators sometimes respond to this tense environment with silence, and this in turn has contributed to a misconception that the creator industry is somehow exempt from politics. But their livelihoods are affected just as much by the decisions of policymakers as those in every other American industry. It’s just that no one seems to be talking about it—except for Michael Jones of

Supercreator

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Last week, as I mentioned in the most recent Sunday Scroll, I mingled with fellow newsletter writers at a Substack event. One of whom was Jones. We only connected briefly—he was on his way home to get a few hours of sleep before waking up at 4 a.m to get his next issue out—but I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read his work before. Jones spends his days on Capitol Hill interviewing politicians and contextualizing how the current issues in D.C. relate to the creator economy, a beat he found his way into after multiple layoffs in the fashion journalism industry. 

“Why is it so hard to be a creator?” he asks in a follow-up conversation over Zoom. “Why is it so hard when creators contribute so much to the culture, when creators contribute so much to society, yet the economic power's often so fleeting or often reserved for those who already have a leg up?”

Recent Supercreator issues touch on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s $40 billion plan to guarantee internet for all, anxieties around AI, and Gen Z political engagement (or lack thereof). But what I think is unique and important about Jones’s work is how he takes seemingly separate issues like housing, climate organizing, and the national debt, and relates them to the day-to-day work of creators. This is an effort to not just make those engaging in the creator economy take politics seriously, but for politics to take them seriously as well.

In this interview for paid subscribers, Jones and I talk about digital media (il)literacy on Capitol Hill, the three biggest political issues affecting creators, and how creators can overcome their fear of getting politically involved. 

For a lot of people with a casual awareness of creators and influencers, I don't think they would immediately see any relationship between the influencers they follow and the things happening in Congress. What are the main ways that the creator economy intersects with the things happening in Washington?