Influencers want formal recognition

[thenry]

The UK's YouTubers, TikTok creators and Instagram influencers have been surveyed en masse for the first time ever, and are demanding formal recognition from the government.

https://news.sky.com/story/uk-conten...nment-13391178

A fair few of these influencers get caught out saying or doing something inappropriate. I think there's a bigger question at hand, creditability and influencers, do they obtain both qualities.

[Taf]

Do they pay taxes on their incomes?

Nearly half think their value is not recognised by the broader creative industry.

Thats because they dont have any value, just supersized ego's

Originally Posted by Taf

Do they pay taxes on their incomes?

The professionally minded ones will be as otherwise HRMC would be after them. After all, they're relatively high-profile earners.

I find it an annoying industry that's cropped up, but a lot of them are very business savvy and not just chancing it. They register themselves as businesses, do proper sponsorship deals, have managers, e.t.c.

[thenry]

Niko Omilana, an influencer...

Electoral candidacies

In the 2021 London mayoral election, Omilana ran as an independent candidate. Omilana received 49,628 votes in the election, securing 2% of the total votes cast, making him the highest-placed independent candidate, beating out other popular independents Piers Corbyn, Laurence Fox, and Count Binface. Among his campaign pledges, Omilana suggested turning McDonald's restaurants into social housing and removing the teeth of racists. Omilana also attempted to run at the 2024 London mayoral election, but his nomination form was declared invalid.

In the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Omilana received attention after candidates named "Niko Omilana" registered as candidates in at least 11 different constituencies, prompting a police investigation as it is an offence to provide false information on nomination papers. Standing as a candidate in more than one constituency is also an offence. Omilana claims that he convinced people to legally change their names to "Niko Omilana" so that different candidates could stand under his name in several constituencies. Each person standing as "Niko Omilana" were resident at a different address and had nomination papers that were signed by different members of the public. Omilana himself stood in Richmond and Northallerton, where then-prime minister Rishi Sunak was the incumbent member of parliament. He was able to obtain 160 votes. During Sunak's concession speech, Omilana attracted media attention when he pranked Sunak by holding up a piece of paper with the letter "L" behind him, which referred to Sunak as a "Loser".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niko_Omilana

A great example of what could be the norm