Annabell, T., Bishop, S. and Goanta, C.
2025.
You and TikTok are, and will remain at all times, independent contractors.
Internet Policy Review
14
(3)
10.14763/2025.3.2014
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Abstract
Social media platforms are significant actors within the creator economy, shaping the visibility vital for content distribution and facilitating a range of monetisation models. Private governance, established through platform documentation, determines rules for influencers and regulates how monetisation takes place. This article brings together work from influencer studies with the field of platform governance to examine the regulation by platforms in the creator economy. Using TikTok as a case study, we systematically examine the classification of influencers and monetisation practices within platform documentation. Drawing on a data set of 85 policy documents, the article demonstrates the complex configuration of documentation influencers must navigate, drawing attention to hyperlinking practices and issues of accessibility. It approaches the documentation qualitatively to examine the discursive construction of influencers as creators’ which collapses boundaries between ordinary and monetising users, softens the hierarchy of eligibility shaped by region and metrics, and downplays professional identity. We also address the specificities of governance across different monetisation practices, which are nested within TikTok’s consistent downplaying of responsibility. Within its documentation, TikTok showcases its power to establish and set rules for monetisation and engender dependence whilst ensuring its obligations towards influencers remain tightly constrained and strategically vague.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Published Online |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Journalism, Media and Culture |
| ISSN: | 2197-6775 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 12 February 2026 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Feb 2026 12:33 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184728 |
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