Introduction: The multifaceted nature of the book’s phenomenon

Abstract

Influencer labour has been thoroughly addressed in the context of the inequalities amplified by platforms and other capitalist actors in the social media ecosystem. Existing media and communication scholarship has generally evolved in isolation from the legal realities that have shaped individual protections. This book aims to converge various threads of research from law, media studies and economics, to raise intriguing questions regarding working as an influencer and how to conceptualise, analyse and apply labour regimes to the broad entrepreneurial portfolio of volatile creative work within the ‘hustle’ of the creator economy. Such questions can reflect the uncertainty around the qualification of influencer labour, as well as the very characteristics of this labour.