Title: Disrupting the Matthew Effect: How Star Suspensions Benefits the Long Tail Creators

Speaker: Yilin Li (Guanghua School of Management, Peking University)

Time: 10:00 (Wednesday), April 22nd, 2026

Venue: Room 713, Mingde Business Building (Zhongguancun Campus)

Language: Chinese/ English

ABSTRACT:

Abstract. Despite hosting millions of creators and fostering long-tail markets, social media platforms exhibit a strong Matthew effect, rendering them increasingly dependent on a few star creators. Although these stars hold significant influence, how the suspension of rule-violating stars reshapes market structure remains understudied. Analyzing data from a major short-video platform using a difference-in-differences design, this study reveals that star suspensions significantly increase content consumption and shift the market distribution. Quantile regression results indicate that while long-tail creators benefit significantly, other star creators’ performance declines following a star suspension within their content category. Mechanism analysis further reveals that this restructuring is driven by a shift in consumer attention toward niche creators, with the platform’s recommender system reinforcing this trend by increasing their exposure. Our findings show that star suspensions can unintentionally disrupt the Matthew effect in the creator market, generating growth opportunities for long-tail creators rather than redistributing traffic among star creators.