Creative Control

“I need to take a minute and debunk some important misinformation,” Aaron Parnas, a twenty-six-year-old content creator, said at the start of a minute-and-a-half, direct-to-camera video posted in late August to Instagram, TikTok, and X. Sporting a hoodie and recording in a nondescript gray corner of his apartment, in Washington, DC, Parnas was straightforward and earnest, miming the serious cadence of a TV newscaster. “Many of you have commented about this article that came out in ‘The Wired,’ asking if I have sold out, if I’ve taken money to push political talking points,” he said. He was referring to a Wired piece by Taylor Lorenz that described a program through which the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a liberal nonprofit, was funneling dark money to influencers—including, possibly, him. Parnas didn’t provide comment to Lorenz. Now the story, revealing details of the Chorus Creator Incubator Program, threatened his credibility as a crusading independent journalist.

“The point of it was to mentor smaller creators so that they can grow and that they can monetize their platforms,” Parnas told his followers. “This had nothing to do with politics, had nothing to do with political party, and had no control over the content I ever made.” Later that day, Parnas told me that he had received twenty-four thousand dollars from the Chorus program in early 2025. (He couldn’t send me his contract, he said.) The video focused on the substance of the Wired piece until the end, when Parnas turned to others in the media: “The people that are attacking me online are traditional journalists who are threatened by the work that I do.”