The Free Speech Movement, born in the 1960s, champions the right to express ideas freely without government intervention. It prioritizes open discourse, exchange of diverse viewpoints, and protection of individual expression from censorship. It is now a road to ruin. On the other hand, the creator economy revolves around monetizing content created by individuals. Creators leverage platforms to reach audiences and generate revenue through ads, sponsorships, and direct fan support.

While both involve individual expression, their goals and implications differ vastly. The Free Speech Movement safeguards a fundamental right, while the creator economy prioritizes content's commercial value. Here's a deeper dive into why these concepts diverge and how free-speech-focused platforms struggle to thrive financially.

Free Speech vs. Monetized Content: Objectives and Motivations

• Free Speech Movement: Driven by the principle of protecting free speech from government censorship. It's an ideological stance preserving democratic values.

• Alarming Trends:

• 78% of expert reports indicate increased speech restrictions.

• Every year since 2015 (except 2015) saw limitations on expression, with a 2022 surge.

• Legislative actions were the most common restriction (57%), followed by enforcement/caselaw (27%) and non-legislative measures (16%).

• National security, cohesion, and public safety were the top reasons for limiting expression, with Denmark leading in this category.

• Intermediary obligations (18%) and hate speech laws (17%) also restricted expression, notably in Norway,Denmark, and Spain.

• Protection trends focused on press freedom (22%), protest rights (12%), and democracy (12%).

• Creator Economy: Focuses on creating content with monetization potential. Platforms like YouTube, Patreon, and TikTok enable creators to earn through ads, sponsorships, and direct audience support. The primary motivator here is financial gain, not protecting free speech.

Content Moderation and Platform Policies

• Free Speech Platforms: Platforms committed to free speech often face challenges with content moderation. Balancing free expression with preventing harmful or illegal content can lead to conflict and accusations of censorship.

• "Illegal content" definitions under intermediary obligations on online platforms should be narrow.

• Laws that incentivize platforms to censor "awful but lawful" content to avoid fines are problematic.

• Political bodies shouldn't have regulatory powers over online speech.

• Creator Economy Platforms: Typically have strict content guidelines to ensure a safe and advertiser-friendly environment. This often restricts certain types of speech to maintain platform integrity and advertiser relationships. For instance, YouTube's demonetization policies restrict content deemed inappropriate for advertisers, limiting what creators can post to earn revenue.

Revenue Models and Profitability

• Free Speech Platforms: Platforms emphasizing free speech often struggle with profitability. Their open nature can make it challenging to attract and retain advertisers wary of having their ads appear alongside controversial content.Examples like Gab, Truth Social, and Parler, which market themselves as bastions of free speech, have faced significant financial hurdles and rely heavily on user donations and alternative revenue streams.

• Creator Economy Platforms: Designed with monetization at their core. They implement algorithms and policies to maximize viewer engagement and ad revenue. This often means prioritizing popular and advertiser-friendly content over content that merely exercises free speech rights.

• Advertising Channels: Instagram is the most popular paid channel for influencer and creator content distribution. Many marketers use Instagram ads, with Facebook following closely. However, a majority of marketers want to see X (formerly Twitter) exit the scene, indicating shifting preferences, lack of moderation and possibly diminishing returns on certain platforms.

Examples and Case Studies

• Gab, Truth Social, and Parler: These platforms have branded themselves as free speech alternatives to mainstream social media. However, they have struggled with attracting a broad user base and sustaining revenue.Their commitment to minimal content moderation has made them less appealing to advertisers, limiting their profitability.

• YouTube and TikTok: These platforms, while not immune to content moderation controversies, have established robust revenue models. They balance user-generated content with stringent guidelines to maintain a safe environment for advertisers, ensuring a steady flow of ad revenue.

Enter AI

AI use has exploded, especially for tasks related to content creation, like copywriting, content writing, and photo editing. This has helped social media and content practitioners focus more on rapid testing and strategy. And that’s just at the individual level. 2024 will see an increase in organizations that systematically integrate the use of AI internally and in customer- facing products. In fact, Hubspot noted a 260% increase in how much organizations plan to use AI for editing images in 2024.

Everyone will have an AI assistant soon. By using open source LLMs or OpenAI-integrated systems, users in the very near future will be able to “build their own bot” that is programmed to help with tasks specific to the individual. Imagine an AI assistant that helps you with all of your least favorite tasks, say social media copy, image cropping, and grocery lists.

AI can be misused in several ways that serve the dark side:

• Automated Censorship: AI algorithms can be used to automatically filter content, leading to unintended removal of legitimate speech. For example, an AI trained to flag hate speech might mistakenly censor strong political criticism.

• Propagating Disinformation: AI can be used to create fake content, like deepfakes or AI-generated text, that spreads misinformation and manipulates public opinion. This can silence authentic voices and drown out factual information.

• Echo Chambers and Confirmation Bias: AI algorithms that personalize content feeds can create echo chambers where users are only exposed to information that confirms their existing beliefs. This stifles exposure to diverse viewpoints and hinders open discourse.

• Bot Armies and Astroturfing: AI can be used to create and control fake social media accounts (bots) that amplify certain viewpoints or attack others. This manipulation can distort public perception and silence genuine voices.

• Creatives abandoning Instagram: Based on unethical sourcing, creators are looking for new platforms that protects their IP.

Entertainment Above All

Social media isn’t simply about multi-platform distribution anymore—it’s an all-encompassing entertainment ecosystem. Social algorithms shifting focus to high entertainment value content (video, video, video) to keep users engaged. TikTok isn’t a social media network—it’s an entertainment platform. Now, Meta, whose social graph dominated early social media, is moving towards a “discovery engine” focused on entertainment value rather than personal identity connections. TikTokers have abandoned Google for search.

Brands face competing demands for entertainment—content made for algorithms hungry for viral potential and content made for users seeking authenticity and relatability. Traditional brand promotion tactics no longer suffice.

The Free Speech Movement and the creator economy, though intersecting on digital platforms, operate on fundamentally different principles. The Free Speech Movement safeguards a right, while the creator economy focuses on commercializing content. Social platforms prioritizing free speech often face challenges in moderation and monetization, leading to limited speech, ironically promoting hate speech, or financial struggles. In contrast, platforms that thrive in the creator economy strike a balance between user expression and advertiser-friendly content, ensuring profitability and sustainability. These trends from a recent Destination Marketers Survey show that Instagram is the most popular paid channel for influencer and creator content distribution — just shy of 100% of DMOs in every budget bracket distribute their creator content through Instagram ads. In close second is Facebook, but the number of DMOs using this channel for paid media decreases in conjunction with content budget. So, it is difficult for any new social media company to enter the fray and compete (what happened to Threads?) and investing or launching a free speech platform is doomed to fail. Free Speech is now Hate Speech.

Sources:

The Free Speech Recession Hits Home

2024 Trends Report - CrowdRiff

About the Author

Curt Doty specializes in branding, product development, social strategy, integrated marketing, and UXD. He has extensive experience on AI-driven platforms MidJourney, Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT, Murf.ai, and DALL-E. His legacy of entertainment branding: Electronic Arts, EA Sports, ProSieben, SAT.1, WBTV Latin America, Discovery Health, ABC, CBS, A&E, StarTV, Fox, Kabel 1, TV Guide Channel, and Prevue Channel.

He is a sought after public speaker having been featured at Streaming Media NYC, Digital Hollywood, Mobile Growth Association, Mobile Congress, App Growth Summit, Promax, CES, CTIA, NAB, NATPE, MMA Global, New Mexico Angels, Santa Fe Business Incubator, EntrepeneursRx and AI Impact. He is now represented by Ovationz. His new consultancy RealmIQ helps companies manage the AI Revolution.

© 2024 Curt Doty Company LLC. All rights reserved. RealmIQ is a division of the Curt Doty Company. Reproduction, in whole or part, without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher is not responsible for any AI errors or omissions.