Do platforms owe creators a greater duty of care?

Platforms like TikTok have redrawn the rules of influence, and visibility is no longer built on follower count but on how effectively a creator can hold attention. The shift has pushed the creator economy firmly into an attention-first system, where the most profitable content is typically what keeps audiences watching for the longest.

But as that model has evolved, questions are emerging about whether the incentives behind it are placing new pressures on creators, and what responsibility, if any, platforms hold for the conditions in which creators work. 

The question is becoming more pointed as platforms introduce wellbeing tools for users, while leaving the creator side of the equation largely untouched.

TikTok’s latest wellbeing feature, rolled out last month as a way for users to “unwind, reset and recharge,” hints at that tension.

The update is aimed at viewers, with tools such as affirmational journalling and breathing exercises. The platform has also roped in popular wellbeing creators including Sasha Hamdani and Quen Williams to offer practical guidance on maximising TikTok tools, such as screen time limits and customising the For You feed.

In doing so, it indirectly acknowledges the strain built into high-engagement environments. If the consumption side of the platform now requires safeguards, the question is whether the production side does too.

The stakes are visible in real-world cases. Last week, reports circulated of a Russian fitness creator who died after filming an extreme fast-food binge for social media. The incident has put a spotlight on the pressures creators face to produce increasingly eye-catching content. 

Other examples over recent years point in the same direction: livestreamers pushing through marathon sessions, travel vloggers attempting high-risk shots, creators publicly documenting burnout after months of posting daily to maintain algorithmic visibility. 

That dynamic is also visible at the top of the industry. MrBeast, YouTube’s most viewed creator, has built an empire on large-scale, high-stakes challenge videos engineered to hold audience attention for long stretches. His content is produced safely and professionally at a scale few can replicate, but his dominance underscores the broader reality: the most successful creator in the world is rewarded for increasingly ambitious, attention-grabbing formats. Smaller creators without the same budgets or teams often feel pressure to compete within the same attention-driven mould.

TikTok’s interest-based distribution model has helped democratise influence, widening the number of people who can break through without celebrity or legacy followings. But the same shift has created a much larger pool of creators operating without the duty-of-care norms that exist in more established entertainment sectors, such as production oversight, working-hour protections and wellbeing standards.

As the creator economy continues to scale, pressure is likely to intensify for platforms to examine not just what their algorithms amplify, but what they incentivise creators to do in order to succeed. Democratisation has brought opportunity, but it has also exposed the limits of a system built on continuous engagement. 

Whether platforms owe creators a greater duty of care may become one of the next defining questions for the industry.