By CultureBanx Team
- After paying nearly $250,000 to creators and reaching cash-flow positivity, Spill is betting that protecting culture and building a sustainable business don’t have to be opposing goals
- Spill says its moderation technology has produced 66% less hate speech by percentage than other major social platforms
Inclusive culture has helped power social media for years, from viral dances and slang to fandoms that can turn entertainment releases into cultural events. Yet the communities driving that influence often receive less protection, credit and compensation. Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell, co-founder of Spill, wants to change that equation. During CultureBanx’s Reimagining Our Tech Agency series in partnership with Omidyar Network, Terrell described Spill as a social platform built around safety, connection and economic agency, particularly for Black, queer and other communities historically marginalized online.
Why This Matters: Online safety isn’t a niche concern. Pew Research Center found that roughly eight in 10 Facebook users and seven in 10 users of Instagram, TikTok and X viewed harassment as a problem on those platforms. Spill is approaching that problem through culturally informed AI moderation.
Terrell noted its platform continuously learns from hate speech and harassment appearing on the platform, helping it recognize changing language and cultural context. Spill now has 66% less hate speech by percentage than other major platforms, while an analysis of 1.5 million Spill conversations found that 30% of its community organically discussed feeling safe there.
“We’ve sort of lost the heart of what social technology was for, which was about connecting,” Terrell said.
Social Safety: Safety is only half the equation. Who gets paid for creating internet culture matters, too.
A MSL study on influencer compensation found a 35% pay gap between Black and white influencers, while 49% of Black influencers surveyed said their race contributed to receiving an offer below market value. Later MSL research found Black influencers could make 67% less than white influencers for Instagram Stories.
Spill is experimenting with an alternative. The platform tracks the origins of trends and works to compensate creators whose ideas generate cultural momentum. According to the company, it has already paid nearly $250,000 to creators and recently reached cash-flow positivity.
The Sinners fandom provides a glimpse of how that model could work. Terrell mentioned Warner Bros. approached Spill before the Ryan Coogler film’s release, leading community members to attend an early screening and build a fandom around the movie.
“Creators from Spill eventually appeared in the studio’s broader digital campaign,” he said. For creators, that’s the bigger opportunity, moving from generating cultural value to participating in its economics.
Culturally Aligned Tech: Spill’s thesis on the future of inclusive tech requires three things: transparency, trust and courage. For diverse communities, that means having a voice in how AI and social platforms are designed instead of simply supplying the data, creativity and engagement that make them valuable.
These stakes extend beyond social media. The U.S. Surgeon General’s research on social connection reported that social isolation is associated with a 29% increased risk of premature mortality, reinforcing Terrell’s argument that meaningful connection shouldn’t be treated as a secondary product metric.
Situational Awareness: Spill’s proposition is refreshingly different, perhaps technology can make money without making outrage the business model. Inclusive culture has already demonstrated its value to the internet. The next challenge is continuing to build and fund platforms where these communities can capture more of that value and feel safe while doing it.
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