Whereas Creator Economy companies have mostly built infrastructure for the top 1% of creators, new AI tools will fuel businesses that democratize creativity (Michael Mignano/Lightspeed Venture …)

Pew Research Center:
A survey of US teens on social media: 80% feel closer to friends and 71% like showing creativity; 59% are neutral on its overall impact; girls report more drama  —  Majorities of teens credit social media with strengthening their friendships and providing support while also noting the emotionally charged side of these platforms

Andy Chalk / PC Gamer:
Blizzard will require Overwatch 2 and Modern Warfare 2 players to use SMS Protect, a 2FA system, to combat toxicity, but won’t accept prepaid and VOIP numbers  —  Just like Overwatch 2, you’ll need to attach a phone number to your Battle.net account to play Modern Warfare 2—and prepaid phones aren’t allowed.

Kaya Yurieff / The Information:
Pinterest says it is ending the creator rewards program that it launched in 2021, which offered cash bonuses when creators completed certain goals  —  Pinterest is ending its creator rewards program, which offered cash bonuses when creators completed goals such as hitting certain engagement metrics, The Information is first to report.

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
UK-based Zen Educate, a marketplace that algorithmically matches schools with the best available teachers, raised a $21M Series A extension to fuel US expansion  —  Zen Educate, an online marketplace that algorithmically matches schools with the best available teachers, has raised £19.3 million …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube unveils Creator Music in beta, which lets creators browse a catalog and use songs by buying rights or sharing revenue, debuting in the US this fall  —  In addition to the groundbreaking news that YouTube would begin to monetize Shorts videos and revamp its Partner Program …

Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
Community Labs, which is building crypto projects on blockchain data storage platform Arweave, has raised $30M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners  —  Instead of baking sourdough or hanging out on Zoom during the depths of the pandemic, Tate Berenbaum spent most of the time coding in his basement.