Big Platforms Aren’t Building You Up. They’re Burning You Down.

For a brief window, the big digital platforms sold creators a seductive promise: “Publish here, post often, play by the rules, and we will handle the hard parts.”

All you had to do was show up and massage the robot, and it would give you discovery and growth.

But that promise expired years ago. Many creators just haven’t noticed yet.

Platforms no longer exist to help creators succeed. Their purpose is to extract value from creators until burnout, replacement, or irrelevance sets in. Like the old saw about going bankrupt, the process was subtle; then sudden.

Now it’s structural.

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