President Joe Biden stopped by the first ever White House Creator Economy Conference to make sure creators know they’re at the center of a historical shift in the way people exchange information. He made it clear his administration recognizes the power of our industry, and is paying attention to how that power can affect our government.
“I have a bunch of grandchildren, and with all due respect, they don’t read the same newspapers or watch the same television I do,” Biden told nearly 100 creators and industry professionals gathered in the East Wing today. “They listen to all of you. They listen to all of you.”
He went on, “I talk about these inflection points in history, and how history is changed by mostly technology, and it changes drastically. I wonder if any of you, when you started on this side of the equation, if you thought it was going to have the consequences it has. Think about it. It’s staggering. You’re changing not only what people listen to and what they put their faith, you’re also changing the idea of what’s consequential.”
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
The conference, run by the Biden administration’s Office of Digital Strategy, tapped creators to come in and have discussions about prominent policy concerns, including issues around privacy, fair pay, AI, and mental health. Staff at the first-of-its-kind event put together a dossier of creators’ feedback and discussion points, and passed this to Biden before he joined for his speech.
Biden said based on those notes and his experiences with “[trying] to stay current,” he’s realized content creators “understand that you have an obligation to record what you think is true, and say what you think is true.”
This is important in our so-called “post-truth” age, where more people than ever distrust official communications from sources like the government and mainstream media.
“I’ve been around a long time, and it’s never been this bad before,” Biden said. “It’s getting incredibly difficult to count the number of lies people hear. They don’t know what to believe, they don’t know what to count on. But you break through in ways that I think are going to change the entire dynamic of the way in which we communicate. That’s why I invited you to the White House.”
He went on to talk about his Inflation Reduction Act, and how he hopes content creators will be among those to spread the word about what the act is intended to do: lower out-of-pocket prescription costs, particularly for people on Medicare. An announcement about that act is being made tomorrow, and Biden invited creators to attend and post about it.
The majority of Biden’s speech painted a pretty rosy picture of online content creation as a $250 billion business populated by innovative, entrepreneurial people with the best intentions. We know there’s plenty of that, but we also know there’s a significant amount of misinformation online, and that some of it is spread by creators. Biden acknowledged that a couple times, urging attendees to think about the power they hold.
“When you go around the world, as many of you have, they look at America like, ‘These guys can do anything when they set their mind to it.’ It’s a nation of possibilities and change,” he said. “You are the new possibilities. You are the new breakthrough in how we communicate. And it matters. I hope you all have thought about the consequences of what you’re undertaking. What it means. What obligations you have to do it on the level.”
As we said, this is the first event of its kind at the White House, but considering the 2024 presidential might just be the “influencer election” leading us into the new era Biden predicts, we doubt it’ll be the last.
