The age of private influence

More and more creators are building their feeds behind closed walls. Could this be the end of public content?

Jul 01, 2025

In the wake of spectacle fatigue, enshittification, privacy concerns and digital walled gardens, valuable content, and with it its creators, may soon be retreating into the digital shadows. We’re asking ourselves: Where is everyone going?

One answer is emerging across platforms and subcultures: people are not logging off — they’re closing ranks. Specialized online and offline communities are becoming the preferred mode of connection and expression.

“Being “chronically offline” is becoming a high-status symbol—a post-luxury marker of exclusivity, and in clear opposition to the obscene power-grabs of the aforementioned world leaders.”

Instead of broadcasting to the widest possible audience, the people who actually shape culture are limiting access to their content and interactions. They’re creating smaller, more intentional environments — sharing only with those they trust, often behind encryption or platform features designed for privacy and intimacy.

Group chats instead of feeds.
Close Friends instead of public Stories.
Encrypted threads instead of timelines.

This fits well with a quiet counterculture that seems to be emerging online: oversharing is out, curation is in. Less of the pompous and grotesque display of “platform wealth” (think Trump and Musk and Kanye West). People now archive personal posts and scale back their online presence, favoring smaller invite-only spaces for authenticity.

Being “chronically offline” is becoming a high-status symbol—a post-luxury marker of exclusivity, and in clear opposition to the obscene power-grabs of the aforementioned world leaders.

A renewed fear of visibility

Of course, Teens have always understood what is now becoming a more widespread phenomenom. Snapchat’s disappearing messages weren’t just a feature, they were an instinct: vanish before the adults could screenshot you. Be somewhere the parents can’t see. Mystery isn’t just power, it’s protection.

The downside of authenticity is the loss of reach, sure. But as the word changes, community-building and a consensus of values are becoming more important than the stubborn desire to be viral.

This instinct is bleeding into culture at large for good reasons. The global right-wing shift is tangible. ICE raids in the U.S., surveillance of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Germany: suddenly, our open online platforms seem vulnerable in a very real-world sense.

So the people who have always driven cultural momentum — queer communities, activists, diasporas — are moving further underground, not just spiritually (by segmenting their audiences further and further), but also practically:

Private meme accounts and backup accounts
Paywalled newsletters, Telegram communities and Discord chats
Real-world events and activations

And meanwhile, the surface web is collapsing under its own weight: thanks to feeds stuffed with AI slop, brand noise, and algorithmic filler, the “public internet” feels like a Kandinsky exploded in a third-rate mall food court. That’s not where culture happens in the future. Everything is haha meme entertainment, but where do people socialize, form connections and bond? Public platforms are inherently limited in meaningful interaction as audiences scale — reinforcing the human preference for smaller, richer spaces.

We may be staring into a future of scene-led influence – not influencer-led scenes. The Culture - in its most pragmatic meaning of social practice - hasn’t stopped, it’s just gone somewhere you might not be able to see it.

And you only get in if you’re invited.

The public feed is dead.
Will new EU regulations accelerate the shift?

The EU’s new regulatory frameworks — the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising Regulation (TTPA) — are changing the rules of digital visibility. While well-intentioned, these laws demand that platforms identify and report political content, even when it’s creator-led, informal, or grassroots.

For marginalized or activist voices, this raises a real risk: that political expression, especially around polarizing issues like Palestine or trans rights, may be flagged, throttled, or de-platformed under the guise of compliance.

The unintended effect? More people retreating into closed systems to protect their speech — pushing culture further underground, behind encryption, away from algorithmic gatekeepers, and into smaller, trust-based spaces.

What this means for brands & creators

For brands, this could be a hard pivot: you can’t buy yourself into mass-culture anymore (if you ever could, that is). Reach will inherently be out, or even considered gauche. Other people know about this? It must be bad. The luxury of exclusive content will cement itself in the same way that rare commodities usually do.

To matter, you have to earn entry. That might mean showing up at the ceramics collective instead of sponsoring the hashtag. Partnering with an Ultra Running squad before they trend. Supporting a local scene before you think about monetizing it. Often, a fraction of your marketing budget can power a small community for a whole year.

For digital marketing tactics at scale, we propose identifying locally active thought- and community-leaders instead of only working with influencers who have not diversified their platform. Let them teach you how to reach their communities - even if they’re small. Especially when they’re small.

However: community leaders might not always have clout. Don’t become the brand that cannibalizes their own customer base. Be mindful of the shift, but be careful of unintended consequences (we crashed out when we read about the brides who hit up brands to sponsor their bachelorette parties)

For NGOs, charities, and politically affiliated initiatives, the implications are especially stark. In response to the EU’s new Transparency in Political Advertising Regulation (TTPA), platforms like Google and Meta have announced they will no longer allow paid ads related to political or social causes.

For many organizations, this effectively erases one of the few remaining scalable tools for public visibility. The result: these brands will need to rely more heavily on networks, not media buys. They’ll have to build communities of supporters willing to carry the message themselves — not through ads, but through trust, alignment, and organic reach.

And for creators, the playbook changes too. The future isn’t about building the biggest audience, it’s about building the right room: the room where your work isn’t stolen, flattened, or turned into content mulch. The room where you set the terms, and the culture leaks outward on your timeline, not the other way around.

A room that people and brands potentially pay for to access.

Signals & Sources

The age of private influence

More and more creators are building their feeds behind closed walls. Could this be the end of public content?

A renewed fear of visibility

The public feed is dead.Will new EU regulations accelerate the shift?

What this means for brands & creators

Ready for more?

The public feed is dead.
Will new EU regulations accelerate the shift?