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Fear not, your freedom will soon be yours

Censorship has been a controversial issue. Some people may say that censorship makes everything orderly, the society can develop smoothly and rapidly, the vulnerable groups can get more protection, and the world is better because of censorship: ) It is true that freedom is defined differently for different people, and when one has no desire to learn, no desire to express, or no sense of something, it is true that everything is wonderful.

The authorities are in control and the platforms are in charge. Platforms censor and filter from the content level, followed by rent-seeking from the value level. In the world of Web2.0, which already lacks ways to monetize, content creators have few options.

Previously, rhythm Research institute had been inHow Social Tokens will Reshape the Creator EconomyIn this paper, social tokens are discussed from the closed-loop dimension of value flow. I recommend this article from TechCrunch. Bremner Morris, CMO/CRO of Rally, a social token platform, discusses the issue of censorship and how social tokens can solve the problem of monetization for content creators. BlockBeats translated the text:

OnlyFans' ban on adult content will spark a debate about the Creators' Bill of Rights

The decision by OnlyFans to ban adult content has brought these important topics back to the table and sparked a new round of discussion that has been largely ignored in the past. This is a big conversation, and it's not just about one platform or one fringe group.

The online ecosystem for content creators is broken, with platforms tightly constraining how they share content and interact with fans. This has forced them to diversify their use of more platforms, while also doing a good job of migrating fans.

In the process, creators can also have a say in the definition of their rights.

History repeats itself

It's not new for creators to be shut out of individual platforms. Many likened OnlyFans' policy change to Tumblr's 2018 ban on adult content. Not only that, but adult content has been a problem for YouTube, with some of the online community on YouTube, including some LGBTQ bloggers, accusing the company of using special algorithms to target them and make them unprofitable.

Many platforms, including OnlyFans, point out that their payment partner policies do create barriers to some forms of content. In 2010, PayPal stopped providing services to WikiLeaks in one of the biggest controversies in the field to date.

All of these incidents have raised hackles among creators and fans, but they are a sign that the whole web has gone wrong, not just the platform itself.

To be sure, these platforms do provide creators with opportunities to drive traffic and interact with fans. But at the same time these platforms will have to put in place policies to avoid the risk of censorship and reputational damage.

But this does not mean that all regulations and policies are bad. On the contrary, they play a significant role in nurturing and managing communities, ensuring their safety and development. However, none of this should be done at the expense of hurting or even banning content creators, who not only provide great content for the platform, but also increase user engagement. At the heart of the issue is the fact that creators are subject to individual platforms and are vulnerable to changing policies, forcing them to constantly move from platform to platform while also dealing with fans and revenue transfers.

Constant migration takes up a lot of their time, which leaves them less able to produce better content, less able to engage with the community, and less financially secure.

Over time, as creators have lost control of the platform, some have begun to experiment with other options, monetizing directly from their fans in a decentralized way without being constrained by the platform.

Decentralization and monetization models

After years of relying on a traditional ad-based, platform-driven revenue model, creators are being replaced by one that monetised directly from fans. As I've discovered during my time at Patreon, when we give creators more control and ownership, the creative economy as a whole becomes more equitable and vibrant. Similarly, Substack provides a powerful financial tool for creators, and over the past few years, more and more companies have started to serve content creators.

For these companies, which often rely on existing systems that have held back platform growth in the past, with business models that dictate conversion rates and share rates, changing that remains a challenge. In any case, the next stage of fan interaction requires efforts in new business model exploration and infrastructure construction.

Properly used, cryptocurrencies could even rewrite the way content creators monetize, interact with fans, and collaborate with platforms. The P2P structure of cryptocurrencies makes the relationship between creators and fans more direct. In the past, they could only build financial connections with their fans through tech giants or payment partners. Now, thanks to cryptocurrencies, they can control themselves without having to go through other hands. Not only that, cryptocurrencies give creators ownership and control over their brands and intellectual property.

In addition, through DAOs or governance tokens, many cryptocurrency projects give participants some say in the value proposition, strategic direction, operational functions, and economic structure of the project. This way, creators can interact with the community in their own way as they choose projects to work on and plan their own direction.

Creators play an active role in the community, motivating people to participate fully in community activities, and at the same time, they can easily benefit from these community-managed activities. The use of cryptocurrencies is still in its early days, and its future is largely in the hands of these creators. Creators can create their own cryptocurrencies in the form of social tokens and introduce them into the sharing economy model, where creators and fans can grow together and transact directly across platforms.

This year NFT has exploded in popularity as a new industry, but so far the NFT industry has barely scratched the surface of its use. The creators, along with various cryptocurrency projects, are looking for ways to extend NFT beyond collectibles; NFT can serve as a powerful and attractive digital tool for creators to engage with fans via video calls or AMA and enjoy exclusive benefits.

The exploration of the power of cryptocurrencies is just beginning, and as these platforms that use cryptocurrencies bring more intuitive experiences to users, cryptocurrencies will become more prevalent. Before doing so, creators should first consider what rights they need in these decentralized services, and even request them accordingly.

Creators' Bill of Rights

Creators have some discretion over individual rights, whether they use cryptocurrencies or not. I think creators should play a leading role in the discussion of the Bill of Rights. Here are some highlights from the discussion:

Unconstrained cross-platform migration: The crux of the problem many creators face is that they tend to rely on a single platform. If creators could be given permission to migrate fans at will, many problems would be solved, including the problem of monetizing fans directly.

Establish a direct economic relationship between creator and fan: At the heart of OnlyFans events is the inability of the creator to control the economic relationship with his fans. While this is not true for every platform, creators should have ownership of the economic relationship and be able to dictate the terms on all platforms.

Creators take the lead in decision making: In the past, creators had little say in decisions and policy making within the platform, but they should be able to directly voice their opinions and vote on any initiatives being made on the platform.

Quality over Quantity: The algorithms used by platforms are all about quantity, which forces creators to do their best to produce content, a path of quantity over quality. However, what both creators and fans want is deeper and more engaging interaction in order to create a vibrant and sustainable creative environment.

Low (or zero) conversion rates: These days, the big tech platforms take almost all of the revenue from creators. Instead, creators and their fans should get the lion's share of the platform revenue.

Equity acquisition and revenue sharing: The big tech platforms have built empires out of squeezing creators and have absolute control over their AD revenue. Decentralized platforms should be left out of the loop and allow creators to truly participate in the benefits, share their rightful share of the revenue and benefit from an ever-improving creative environment. This model of cooperation of interests will be a major change, and the separation of capital and labor will no longer happen.

Policy transparency and full consultation: creators should have a place in the process of policy formulation and adjustment so that their own codes of conduct can be fully developed. It is often difficult for them to understand the platform's decisions about content review and the algorithms used in revenue distribution. Moreover, as the objects of these decisions and algorithms, they are unable to participate in the decision-making discussion, and can only let them abuse and helpless. These creators have a right to know the size of the platform's revenue and their share of it.

Leave room for change: To err is human, and creators may sometimes violate the platform's rules, intentionally or not. At this point, the platform needs to provide them with a certain tolerance space, so that they can modify their content to meet the requirements of the platform, which is conducive to the establishment of a good relationship of mutual trust and cooperation between creators and the platform.

Creators have not been able to set their own terms, and now we want to change that and give them more power. I am confident that Rally, along with other major players in the Web 3.0 ecosystem, will support this decision to create a good environment for creators and their fans.