Twitch streamers unlikely to unionize even after controversial pay changes
Even with TwitchCon, an October celebration of Amazon’s industry-leading live streaming platform, in the rearview mirror, content creators remain angry about recent changes to their pay. But despite collective protests, collective action seems impossible.
In September, Twitch announced it would drop the 70/30 revenue split option it offered top-tier streamers, many of whom spend more than eight hours a day on camera talking to viewers and play video games. It’s a job that may look attractive on paper, but it’s a job nonetheless; few have the stamina to build their personality as an actor all day, every day, and many burn out after a few years.
Across the board, Twitch’s standard split of paid subscriptions — a major source of streamer revenue — is now 50/50. This after a year in which the company already put pressure on creators to show more ads despite interrupting broadcasts and potentially turning new viewers in the door. In general, broadcasters feel like they are being screwed over and shortchanged by a company that, according to former employeeshas started taking pennies in search of profit.
In the face of continued outrage, Twitch executives say a better split is out of the question, even as competing platforms like YouTube and Facebook attract creators with more favorable reports.
“[It’s] like, ‘You’re part of Amazon’. Of course you should be able to pay 70 percent,’” Twitch’s Head of Monetization Mike Minton told The Post during an interview at TwitchCon. “The reality is, as an Amazon-owned company, we have the same expectations as the rest of the Amazon ecosystem: We are a long-term, sustainable business.”
Some creators have proposed the merger as a possible solution to the problem of a platform that is too big to move, but apparently too small to pay its own bills. But in pursuing the legal route, broadcasters face the same dilemma faced by gig economy workers who drive and deliver for apps like Uber and Lyft: They are classified as independent contractors. This leaves them with the option of either forming independent union-like entities or joining existing unions such as the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which recently opened its doors to its for “influencers”, but only those who have made money from sponsored deals.
or the latest proposal from the Biden administration that would reclassify large numbers of gig workers as employees could change that dynamic, but must face a public comment period and would take months to take effect if approved.
Twitch is also very heavy, with little in the way of a midrange. A leak of broadcasters’ pay last year found that less than 0.1 percent make minimum wage or better.
These structural issues, according to Hasan Pikera political commentator who broadcasts to millions of viewers daily and regularly advocates for unionization across industries, helping and hurting the cause.
“You take the top 1 percent of Twitch streamers and you have a merger all of a sudden,” Piker told The Post during an interview at TwitchCon. “But the solution is so easy. And also a lot of [top] The broadcasters themselves are equity owners and would rather bargain individually than have some sort of collective agreement. They want to make sure their bottom line is protected.”
A demonstration of the negotiating power of popular broadcasters took place in September when the main creators like Imane “Pokimane” Anys AND Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo discussed a plan to boycott Twitch during a particularly lucrative week unless the platform addressed the long-standing issue of in-stream gambling and, in some cases, advertising of gambling sites to new viewers. Later that week, Twitch took action and effectively banned several popular gambling sites.
Smaller streamers, however, noted that this energy from top streamers was nowhere to be found in 2021, when so-called “hate raids” — in which trolls flooded smaller streamers’ chats with fake bot-powered accounts that sent often racist messages — plagued Twitch, and the company failed to respond adequately even after a boycott by smaller streamers. Furthermore, last month’s anti-gambling effort by major broadcasters quickly descended into interpersonal drama and mudslinging, obscuring the central issue at hand.
Piker sees this moment as instructive: The potential for organization exists on Twitch, but cohesion is lacking, and Twitch has a tendency to move slowly even when heavy hitters throw their weight around. “To remove gambling from the platform as it dominated its own individual [category on Twitch] — with God knows how many people becoming addicted to gambling in the process — it still took a year,” Piker said. “I’ll take the moral victory. But it wasn’t [systemic]. In the end, we did nothing.”
Musk closes deal to buy Twitter
As one of his first moves as the new owner of Twitter, the chief executive of Tesla Elon Musk fired Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawalsenior financial officer Ned SegalAND Vijaya Gaddehead of legal policy, trust and security, Faiz Siddhi AND Elizabeth Dwoskin report.
The deal was closed after several months of legal battles and negotiations. Here you can follow all the developments of the day.
Musk has hinted that he may loosen content moderation on Twitter, but on Thursday he tried to reassure advertisers, writing in a tweet that Twitter “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said without consequence!” However, some advertisers say they will stop advertising on Twitter if the former president Donald TrumpHis account has been restored, something Musk has hinted he will do, the Wall Street Journal Patience Haggin AND Suzan Vranica report.
TikTok faces ire from Washington amid data privacy concerns
TikTok has been a massive test for the Biden administration in regulating a wildly popular cultural phenomenon while navigating US-China relations and grappling with an internet no longer dominated by American firms. Drew Harwell AND Elizabeth Dwoskin report in the third installment of the Rise of TikTok series.
“The battle over TikTok has become one of the modern internet’s biggest standoffs: two global superpowers locked in a multibillion-dollar powerhouse that could define culture and entertainment for a generation,” they wrote. “Yet the battle has often played out like a farce, laden with an almost comical level of twists and contradictions — even as China’s power over the company has grown.”
The U.S. government and TikTok have agreed to some initial terms such as oversight by U.S. government specialists and data security rules, but the deal is nowhere near a clear outcome, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. . . And people familiar with Oracle, the company often cited as TikTok’s watchdog, say reports of its involvement so far are exaggerated, saying all it’s doing on TikTok’s behalf is securing servers.
Indian official says he will sue The Wire after reporting on Meta
Amit Malviyaan official from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), says he will file civil and criminal charges against The Wire for publishing “falsified documents with the intention of misusing and damaging my reputation”. Gerry See reports. It comes after weeks of controversy over The Wire, which published and later retracted a controversial report that claimed Malviya had the power to censor Instagram posts.
“In a public apology posted Thursday, The Wire said an unnamed staff member had misled the organization and that the news organization lacked the expertise and editorial rigor to verify technical stories,” Gerry wrote.
Wire says it was misled by an employee who is no longer affiliated with the company. Wire editor Siddharth Varadarajan also hinted without providing evidence that the media may have been the subject of a wider conspiracy.
“Whether the person who brought all the material to The Wire misled us at the behest of someone else or acted on their own is a matter that will be subject to litigation in due course,” he said. “The intent to discredit The Wire is obvious.”
Expect More China-Linked Tech Strikes, Says US Official (Jeanne Whalen)
Three arrests, two superpowers and a secret prisoner swap (Wall Street Journal)
Amazon quietly gives $400,000 to conservative nonprofit that opposed new antitrust legislation (CNBC)
Google Play in EU antitrust pending appeal of Android fine (Reuters)
He played dead on TikTok — and scored a CSI gig with a corpse (Jonathan Edwards)
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