The Illusion of Influence: Why ASU's Influencer Degree Gets Canceled

Matt Walsh opens with a confession: the beloved "Daily Cancellation" segment is returning, but only weekly now. After months of deliberation over what to call it, he landed on the obvious—"The Weekly Cancellation"—which his producers were contractually obligated to celebrate. The inaugural target: Arizona State University, which announced it will become the first major university to offer a Bachelor of Arts in Content Creation, a four-year degree focused on becoming a professional influencer.

What ASU Is Actually Selling

The program, housed in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, promises to teach content strategy, personal branding, audience analytics, multimedia production, podcasting, social media marketing, and videography. Students will learn "how to analyze performance, test different content strategies, and improve results using audience data." There is even a course called "How to Become an Influencer." The curriculum culminates in a capstone project where students must "grow a real audience" on a platform like TikTok or YouTube, demonstrating measurable engagement metrics to potential employers or sponsors.