Hey Creatorverse readers,
Have you been watching InfoWars lately? If not, you need to change that. What started as The Onion’s ruthless mockery of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is on its way to becoming one of the most interesting hubs of alternative comedy in the creator era.
But first, a refresher: The original InfoWars was founded by Jones as a way for him to publish his hateful claims about 9/11 and push the false notion that the Sandy Hook shootings were a hoax, among other baseless conspiracy theories. Jones’ repeated claims about the Sandy Hook victims led to a defamation lawsuit that cost him $1.4 billion and the liquidation of InfoWars. Since then, the courts have been battling Jones to try and give the victims their rightful money, and the satirical website The Onion has been trying to acquire InfoWars as a sort of middle finger to Jones. As of April, the ownership of the original InfoWars is still in limbo.
But last month The Onion went ahead with its plan anyway, launching what it has dubbed the real InfoWars with comedian Tim Heidecker of “Tim and Eric” fame as its creative director.
Already the rebrand has more followers than the original InfoWars. The Onion’s version of the website has over 219,000 followers on Instagram, 140,000 subscribers on YouTube and 73,000 followers on TikTok with posts that routinely score hundreds of thousands of views. The Onion has also seen a boost in advertising sales, merchandising sales and newspaper subscriptions from people looking to support the new InfoWars.
Oh, and the venture has sent $100,000 to the families of the Sandy Hook victims — $100,000 more than Jones has sent.
The Onion’s InfoWars is staying true to its promise of relentlessly ridiculing Jones, as seen each week by Heidecker and Brad Holbrook’s gravelly impressions of Jones and rightwing podcasters. But as it turns to its next era, the growing platform is looking more to the creator community. The brand has already brought on Mia DiPasquale, known for her casting work in Nathan Fielder’s “Nathan for You,” and plans to feature content from musician Dev Lemons (543,000 Instagram followers) and AI’s biggest rival, Husk (992,000 Instagram followers). As the brand grows, The Onion also wants to give more money to the families and develop a specific payment model for creators.
“The beauty of being truly independent is we can do whatever we want, basically, and we want to build a mass audience. A good way of doing that is building our channels as much as possible right now,” Ben Collins, the CEO of The Onion, told me. “We’ve been allowed by this audience to take massive risks. We have plans for some of those risks, but the currency of the internet right now is novelty, surprise and having fun. That’s what we plan on doing until the end of the year, at least.”
This is great news for all the weirdo artists and comedians out there as well as me, personally. Some of the greatest talents of our generation have emerged from being allowed to test out their oddest impulses on a big stage. For example, before he was revolutionizing horror with “Get Out” and “Nope,” Jordan Peele worked out sketches on “Mad TV” and “Key & Peele.” “SNL” has served as a launchpad for countless comedy superstars.
But this modern era of TV is so concerned with pleasing a mass audience, there’s little room for niche gambles. That sort of lost platform is exactly what InfoWars 2.0 sounds like it’s building. It’s also one I’m going to be keeping a close eye on.
Now onto the rest.
Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com
What’s New
Alex Cooper’s Unwell is valued at $500 million after an investment from WTSL
The increased valuation comes after Patrick Whitesell’s new firm, WTSL, invested in Cooper and Matt Kaplan’s company. The exact amount of the investment wasn’t disclosed, but it does show how big Cooper’s empire has become.
And a Netflix movie is now part of that empire. Cooper will be producing a new Netflix movie based on the adult romance novel “Deep End,” which was written by Ali Hazelwood. Cooper has been investing beyond podcasting lately and has produced several TV shows, including the Netflix reality dating show “Let’s Marry Harry” and “The Unwell Winter Games.”
Meta, TikTok, Google and Snap will have to face more than 3,000 child safety lawsuits
Previously, the companies attempted to appeal a ruling that would allow these cases to proceed. That appeal was rejected on Monday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
This news is extra bad for Meta. The platform behind Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp was ordered to pay $567 million to address harms to young people in the second phase of a New Mexico trial. This is in addition to the $375 million in civil penalties the company was ordered to pay from this same case in March.
Over 60% of creators earn less than $10,000 a year
A new study from CreatorIQ and Influencers.club found that 67% of creators earn $10,000 or less annually. This survey, which included responses from more than 5,000 creators, also revealed that 62% of creators say that content creation is not their primary source of income and that high paying brand deals are most closely correlated with large follower counts. That last detail is especially important considering that industry experts have spent the last year saying that engagement — not follower counts — is the most important metric for brands.
Platform Updates
YouTube is going to make it harder for creators to earn money, and X revamps its creator program
It’s about to get a lot harder for creators to start making money on YouTube. Starting in February 2027, creators who want to start earning on the platform will need to have at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year, double the 4,000 hours that are currently required. Shorts creators will need 20 million qualified Shorts views in a 90 day period compared to the 10 million Shorts views the platform now requires. This update won’t impact creators who are already in the YouTube Partner Program.
As for X, Elon Musk’s platform will prioritize original content from creators starting Sept. 8. That means clipping is out. But the YouTube changes are the big news here. The platform upping its standards means another platform may become the place to be for a new class of mid-tier longer-form creators.
TikTok cuts Nashville jobs and embraces Spider-Man fan edits
Just two years after opening the location, TikTok is closing its Nashville office, which predominantly housed part of the company’s moderation team. The move will result in 250 layoffs.
In other TikTok news, the platform launched a first-of-its-kind fan-edit campaign to celebrate “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” The in-app contest led to 3,205 qualified posts created by fans, and videos for the contest generated more than 12 million views.
Kickstarter will invest $1 million in rising artists, and Spotify crosses the 300 million paying subscriber mark
Kickstarter’s Culture Fund is a new program designed to support independent creators in the arts, fashion, film and music. The fund is open to all creators worldwide who have a live Kickstarter campaign or a draft of a project that falls into one of the four eligible categories.
Finally, one big piece of platform news I missed last week: Spotify surpassed 300 million paying subscribers, making it the first audio streaming service to hit that figure. The company announced the news during its second quarter earnings report. Spotify and Netflix are now the only streamers to surpass the 300 million subscriber mark (Netflix sits at 325 million).
Movers and Shakers
Savanah Moss is producing a Jeff the Killer movie
The trend of creators making horror movies keeps on going. Savanah Moss (11.4 million TikTok followers) will be producing a movie adaptation of the Jeff the Killer creepypasta, I reported earlier this week. The movie is being produced with the network of creator-led studios, Tongal, and creators worldwide will have the opportunity to pitch their own Jeff the Killer concepts. Cool move for a piece of internet lore that was built from community collaboration.
In other news, Lala Sadii (25.7 million followers on TikTok) is working on her own scripted series for Disney Channel and Disney+. And podcaster Joe Budden launched “Crime in America,” Budden’s first true crime podcast that was created in partnership with Wolf Entertainment (“Law & Order,” “One Chicago” universe) as well as news publisher Advance Local and its Headline Studio.
Dhar Mann Studios purchases 143,000 square foot campus in Los Angeles
Dhar Mann Studios just got an upgrade. The company purchased a new and bigger campus in Chatsworth, which it plans to transition into in 2027. Additional details will be shared at a later date.
“Los Angeles has always been home for Dhar Mann Studios. As we continue to grow, we wanted a permanent location where our team can keep creating stories that help people feel seen and connected, and continue evolving what’s next in entertainment,” Mann said in a statement. “This campus gives us the foundation to do that for years to come.”
Fox’s Red Seat Ventures is bringing video podcasts to Apple starting with Jubilee’s “Surrounded”
Red Seat Ventures, the creator-led media company owned by Fox Corp., will be bringing video to Apple Podcasts thanks to its hosting, distribution and monetization platform Speakeasy. Jubilee’s “Surrounded” will be one of the first shows to get the video treatment on Apple Podcasts. It’s one of several creator-led shows that are expected to launch through Speakeasy in the coming months.
Curry Barker directed a Weezer music video
This isn’t really industry-changing; it’s just cool. Curry Barker, the director of “Obsession” and half of the sketch comedy group that’s a bad idea, directed the video for Weezer’s “C.E.O.” It’s (another) homage to “Undone,” and it stars Tony Hawk and Jay Renshaw’s Chit as part of Weezer 2.0. Fun stuff!
@mburkez Homemade meat beef version
♬ 639hz – Heart Chakra – Solfeggio Guru & Instrumental Zone & Zen Meditation Garden
Who to Watch
Doorknob Girl
You know how I spent the first half of this email raving about how much I love alternative comedy? Introducing my latest obsession: Doorknob Girl (1.1 million TikTok followers). Every faceless post features her cooking a different recipe, but between her echoing voice, insistence that there are “hordes” of people after her work and commitment to making what she’s dubbed “homemade meat” and “dried yogurt for HIM,” Doorknob Girl’s videos feel like they’re being posted from a different dimension.
Doorknob Girl, whose first name is Morgan, started posting in 2020 after several of her friends encouraged her to post stories on TikTok. Quickly, her profile took off with her high school stories gaining over 50,000 views. But as time went on, Morgan became less comfortable showing her face or telling stories from her actual life. That’s how the bizarre lore surrounding her channel started to emerge
“It is a character, and I’m typically lying. However, there’s some realness in that,” Morgan told me, pointing to early videos when she was making resin doorknobs. “I’m always like, ‘I need to hit my quota and make a certain amount of doorknobs,’ and people thought it was so funny. But I was very stressed in my sales job at the time.”
Doorknob Girl is still dedicated to making homemade meat (which is just seitan) and is developing both a cookbook and a zine. But she’s emerged as one of the most delightfully weird creators roaming the internet.
Bonus Content
- TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide (via Bloomberg)
- LinkedIn’s Big Creator Boom Has Just One Rule: Please Keep Your Day Job (via LinkedIn)
- The AI Slop Backlash Is Actually Having an Impact (via Wired)
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This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.
