Creator Weekly: YouTube on TV, Patreon iOS app, Kickstarter Tariff Manager

Happy May!

This week there are updates for YouTube, AdSense, Vimeo, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest and more. Plus new features for Google Gemini and Meta AI.

I focus a bit on changes affecting monetizing creators: a ruling in Epic Games v. Apple that should let iOS apps like Patreon bypass the Apple Tax for subscriptions, and new tools for managing tariffs on platforms like Kickstarter and Shopify that let creators offer physical goods.

But it’s not all about accounting, I promise! Read on for this week’s updates.

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Ten Years Ago This Week: YouTube Turns Ten

To celebrate 10 years of Creator Weekly, I’m sharing highlights from 2015.

This is YouTube’s 20th anniversary, so a decade ago, YouTube turned 10. I take a look back at what was hot in 2015, a few major changes over the past 10 years, and speculate about where YouTube might be heading.

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Taxes and fees: Navigating the “Apple tax” and new US tariffs

Creators are constantly being told to diversify their revenue, build a community of patrons, members or subscribers; sell items through shopping platforms; or even launch your own product.

This isn’t easy, especially when the current economy is, shall we say, complicated. Two relevant updates this week that may help.

Getting around the Apple Tax

This week Apple was ordered to allow developers to provide information in apps about how to make purchases or buy subscriptions outside the App Store, and is not allowed to collect fees on those purchases. This is good news for both creators and consumers.

Back in August 2024, Patreon creators were told that their patrons subscribing using an iOS device would either have to pay more or the creator would have to eat Apple’s 30% fee.

Creator Matthew Buck shared an official post from the Patreon Discord that says Patreon has already submitted an updated iOS app that lets patrons select a payment method that doesn’t include that 30% fee.

Part of Patreon’s original change was a requirement for creators to switch to subscription billing by November 2025. That is now on hold.

Spotify has also submitted a new version of their app and explained how this ruling helps US consumers. This should also be good for creators, as fans may be more inclined to subscribe.

Tariff Transparency

The U.S. has imposed tariffs on a number of imports, especially those coming from China. This is hitting creators who review products (or need new equipment) and sell their own merchandise.

Companies like Logitech are raising prices, and Razer and Nintendo have paused sales in the US.

Cheap clothing and other goods from companies like Temu and Shein may no longer be affordable. And Temu has just stopped shipping products directly from China to the US entirely.

It’s not just cheap goods. Many creators who sell physical products have them manufactured outside the US, especially in China. Slowly new tools are becoming available.

But there are some tools to help creators navigate the changes.

Kickstarter has a new Pledge Manager tool that is launching in the next few weeks. This includes a Tariff Manager that can help manage tariffs on goods to be sent to backers in the U.S.

Creators can use the new Kickstarter Tariff Manager to add a per-item surcharge after the campaign has ended. Backers who cannot pay can reach out to the creator directly to figure out a resolution.

Spring by Amaze (formerly TeeSpring) is a popular print-on-demand platform for T-shirts and other goods, notes that they use local “tariff-proof” fulfillment, with multiple printing locations in the US, plus print shops in Mexico, India, Australia and Europe.

And Shopify now shows merchants on all plans estimated duties and import tax calculations, rather than limiting that to Advanced or Plus plans. Merchants can set a default country of origin, and with Duty Inclusive Pricing enabled, customers will see the full cost of products before they check out (although that’s apparently not available to US customers).

Video Creator and Live Streaming Updates

YouTube has made a number of improvements for viewers in their Smart TV and Gaming Console app:

Shelves to “continue your search” and “listen again”
“Live performances, remixes, and covers” shelf featuring your favorite songs
“From your top channels” shelf from channels you watch frequently.
Podcasts Tab
Shorts are now split out from long-form videos on their own shelf
You can now loop all video on demand (VOD) content, not just playlists.
Immersive Channel Previews, which are “fullscreen background previews on channel headers”
Inline previews on channel pages, subscription pages and topic pages.
A Primetime Channels shelf if you subscribe to YouTube TV

The YouTube Shorts editor now lets you add editable stylized captions. (details from Creator Insider )

The YouTube mobile app now shows your video upload progress on the channel page. (details from Creator Insider)

YouTube Studio desktop Content > Playlists tab now lets you filter by description and visibility, in addition to title. (details from Creator Insider)

YouTube is testing blurred thumbnails in the search results for queries that may produce results with sexual themes. The title, description and channel name will not be blurred, and the thumbnail itself can be unblurred. YouTube says “the goal of this test is to understand whether this type of feature helps users avoid accidentally viewing content that follows YouTube's Community Guidelines but may be sensitive in nature.”

There were a few small updates to Edits, Instagram’s video editing app: more fonts, more voice effects, and the ability to apply filters and effects to all clips at once.

Vimeo updated their AI-powered automated video translations.

Editable, subtitle-only translations in 36 languages
Custom terms and phrases, so it gets industry-specific jargon, brand names and other terms correct (I want this everywhere!)
Updated user interface to manage multiple translations at once
Pay-as-you-go pricing

X is rolling out 4K video uploads to Premium subscribers.

LinkedIn shared technical specs for videos posted to the platform, including the “safe zone” where your video won’t be covered by buttons or other elements. Maximum length is 15 minutes and you can upload a custom thumbnail. Your video may or may not appear in the immersive video feed (“The immersive video feed features content based on the quality and relevance of existing videos on LinkedIn.”).

Tubefilter and WIRED report: Will gen AI make YouTube's next Elsagate? The question is if YouTube can detect and take down the policy violating content fast enough.

Tubefilter reports: In India, Neal Mohan announces YouTube's $100 million investment in local creator economy

The BBC has a radio series “Like and Subscribe: How YouTube Changed the World”. Listen here.

Web Publishers and Search

AdSense is removing the “Video Games (Casual & Online)” sensitive category in the blocking controls. If you have that category blocked it will be labeled “Deprecated” on May 15, and then it will stop blocking ads on June 15. You can still block ads for video games using the general categories “Video Games, Consoles & Accessories" and "Online Games & Puzzles" and their subcategories.
You can find your ad category blocking controls in your AdSense Brand Safety settings or in your YouTube Studio Settings > Ad Categories.

AdSense is updating their list of ad technology providers for GDPR and European regulation compliance on June 2.

Google Search AI Mode is now available to all US users in Search Labs, no waiting required. AI Mode is starting to include visual place information (such as local business details) and product cards for shopping queries.

Blog and newsletter platform Ghost has added new federation features including editing your social web profile and one click setup of sharing to Threads and Bluesky (in addition to being available to Mastodon and other ActivityPub users). Plus you can add images to notes, comments and replies on the social web.

Social Media

Pinterest now labels AI-modified or generated images. This is visible when you click an image Pin (but not scrolling through your feed). The label is added based on metadata and Pinterest’s own classifiers that automatically detect generative AI content (you can appeal if they get it wrong). Soon they will let users select “see fewer” on Gen AI Pins for “categories prone to AI” content, like beauty and art.

Pinterest announced their Pinterest Inclusion Fund program for 2025. It provides support to a group of “small merchant businesses and content creators who sell products or produce content that fuels our inclusive product features, such as skin tone ranges, hair pattern search and body type ranges.” It will include creators in the US, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and the UK. They note that more inclusive posting has led to significantly increased engagement.

Flickr has a new monthly photo challenge. Every month they will give away a year of Flickr Pro and a photo print to one participant. This month’s challenge: Up Close and Macro.

LinkedIn is beta testing BrandLink (previously called the Wire Program). This allows brands to “connect with trusted publishers and creators to promote in-stream pre-roll ads alongside contextually-aligned, high-quality videos” targeted to viewers. Currently advertisers can choose to sponsor the new “Shows by LinkedIn”. These five original shows are each led by a “business-minded creator.”

The Fediverse Report: Bluesky, censorship and country-based moderation. Bluesky “censored” certain accounts in Turkey, but the report notes “Not only is the Turkish censorship of accounts even easier to sidestep, it also allows for new ways to highlight and create visibility for the content that the Turkish government wants to be hidden.”

Threads now has 350 million monthly active users. That’s an order of magnitude less than Instagram or Facebook, of course. It brings Threads closer to X and Pinterest, and has tenfold more users than Bluesky. It’s also not clear how active those users actually are.

Threads has new terms of service that go into effect on May 28. The biggest changes appear to be related to “Interoperable Capabilities” which relates to Fediverse integration. They state that they can remove any third party content stored on their servers at their own discretion.

Businesses and brands that pay for Meta Verified verification, may now get Original Content Protection (which is still in the test phase). That adds a ‘Original by’ label to Instagram Reels that links back to the subscribed creator to any repost. It feels like Instagram shouldn’t require payment for this, but I’m not in the market for this. Meta Verified also includes a verified badge, impersonation protection and human support.

Instagram has a new “Share Only to Profile” option where you can create a post that appears on your profile, but not in anyone’s feed.

Social Media Today reports: X provides explanations of common reach restrictions amid accusations of shadowbans

Communication and Collaboration

Google has added emoji reactions to Gmail 😁. Note that recipients who use third-party email software (like Apple Mail or Microsoft Outlook), a non-Gmail email address, or older versions of the Gmail app will get an email with the emoji, rather than seeing it as a reaction. You’ll have to decide whether that is a problem (getting 10 separate emails, each with one emoji could be pretty annoying).

If you have access to Gemini in Google Workspace, you can now start a conversation in the side panel of Google Drive about specific files.

More AI Updates and Tips

You can now edit your own photos in the Google Gemini app, including changing the background, replacing objects and adding elements. Edited images have the invisible SynthID digital watermark, and Google is experimenting with adding a visible watermark. Google does not use uploaded images for generative AI training, unless you send feedback. However, content may be reviewed by actual people “to help keep Gemini safe”.

You can now generate Audio Overviews with Google’s NotebookLM in 50 languages. These are podcast-like “deep dive” “discussions” that summarize your sources. You can change the language by clicking the Settings gear and selecting “Output Language”. This is available to both free Google Accounts and Google Workspace accounts.

The Meta AI app launched, powered by the Llama 4 LLM. The chatbot uses the “information you’ve already chosen to share on Meta products”, including your Facebook and Instagram profiles and the content you like or otherwise engage with. There is also a Discover social feed in the app where people can share their prompts (some people apparently are entering prompts without realizing they have it set to be public). Voice interactions and Discover feed are also coming to Meta AI on the web.

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