Markiplier mentioned fairly recently that he can’t release the trailer for his Iron Lung movie because of the strike. Before that, I hadn’t really considered a link between Hollywood and YouTubers. Kind of weird to think about.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

As Hollywood’s writers and actors unions remain on strike, studios are turning to content creators to promote their movies and attend their screenings.

But over 115 creators with a combined 80 million followers are pledging that they won’t cross the picket line while the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes rage on.

“Before I was a creator, I used to work in restaurants full time, and that makes me no stranger to being exploited for my labor,” Jonathan Kung, a chef with 1.7 million TikTok followers, told TechCrunch.

When Kung saw that TikToker and Gen Z for Change director Victoria Hammett was organizing creators to show solidarity with striking writers and actors, he immediately signed onto this pledge, which is called Labor Over Likes.

“We wanted to set a norm for other influencers, who are maybe less involved in labor movements… this is not for us to do,” TikTok creator and Gen Z for Change member Abbie Richards told TechCrunch.

“I think it’s important that in such a blended space — where we are all part of this much larger, amorphous blob of a creative content industry — that we’re quite clear that we’re not interested in doing that.”

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