This fall, digital creators are officially getting a seat at the table in Washington.
The Congressional Creators Caucus, a group dedicated to giving creators space to discuss public policy, was first announced in June, and is expected to roll out full-steam ahead when lawmakers return to Washington in September.
The caucus was initially facilitated by YouTube creators Matthew and Stephanie Patrick, who are behind the YouTube channel The Game Theorists, as a way to raise issues creators face as small-business operators. The organization, which has support from YouTube and Patreon, has bipartisan support: the caucus is headed by Republican US Rep. Beth Van Duyne and Democratic US Rep. Yvette Clarke.
The caucus comes as the creator economy is projected to grow to $480 billion by 2027, according to creator platform Kajabi. Even as the industry grows and adapts, creators, some of whom generate significant revenue individually, face a number of business challenges, Van Duyne said.
“When you look at these content creators, the majority of them are small businesses,” she said. “They’re not really treated like small businesses. I don’t think a lot of people think of content creators as revenue generators.”
Van Duyne, who sits on the House Committee on Small Business, recalls visiting a $5 million, 80,000-square-foot production facility in February that the YouTuber account Dude Perfect erected in Frisco, Texas, the state she reps. There, she said, she spoke with Dude Perfect employees about the struggles creators face—one of which is the lack of recognition as small businesses.
During the visit, YouTube’s team pitched her on the idea for the caucus, she told us.
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In a video posted to X, Matthew Patrick (who goes by MatPat online) said that the caucus will focus on educating lawmakers on specific issues affecting creators such as responsible use of AI and clearer tax codes for classifying creators, and Van Duyne said the caucus will work on policies ensuring that the US stays ahead in the international AI race while putting “guardrails on without stifling that progress.”
To that end, the caucus will support tax legislation that is representative of creators’ unique financial circumstances, Van Duyne said.
“The income that they’re making ebbs and flows: They can make a ton of money one day, and then they can make nothing for weeks,” Van Duyne said. The caucus “needs to hear these stories…as we are creating laws around this industry.”
The caucus is looking to intake with creators whose perspectives stand to inform its discussions and policies, and Van Duyne said the group is sourcing them through YouTube, as well as through an intake form on Clarke’s site. To evaluate and vet the creators they work with, Van Duyne’s own team considers criteria like subscriber-base size and the amount of time a creator has been active, according to the lawmaker.
She has ambitions for the caucus to be a lively and active group and plans to hold meetings once the session begins.
“A lot of caucuses that we’ve got in Congress, some are very active, and some of them barely ever meet,” she said. “I would like this to be an active caucus, and I want to give content creators a platform directly to lawmakers.”
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