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As we publish the second annual edition of TIME100 Creators, I’ve been thinking about findings released in June by YouGov from its 2026 Trust in Media survey. The research firm polled Americans on how they viewed 65 U.S. news outlets. For the fifth year running, YouGov found TIME to be among the most trusted, by Americans across ideological viewpoints. At a period when Americans seem to agree on increasingly less, their trust in TIME endures. 

A second poll, released in April, comes from Media Insight Project, a consortium of academic groups that surveyed Americans ages 13 and up. They found that independent creators, like the ones included in this year’s TIME100 Creators, have become sources of information across generations. Most Americans—57%—get at least some of their news from this group. Our competition is no longer only other magazines, but also individuals who function as media companies unto themselves.

Taken together, the two surveys point to both a tension and an opportunity for TIME: our value has never been solely trust or reach, but also the belief that each enables the other. As a publisher, we’ve traveled across changes in how people want to access and receive information for 103 years, each time carrying your trust with us into new places and forms. Creators are poised to be that latest turn. Our answer isn’t to retreat from these personalities or the platforms on which they work, but to bring TIME’s editorial judgment to them, and their strengths to you. People-first storytelling shouldn’t come at the cost of trust.

What is being created by individuals like influencer Alix Earle, who is on the cover of this issue, is real—real audiences, real impact, real businesses. Earle is a fitting avatar for this list: she has built the architecture for the kind of media enterprise many legacy outlets have spent decades creating.

We set out in search of others like Earle, eager to find this year’s TIME100 Creators, listening to the platforms where these individuals make their living, talking with experts about who they see as most influential, and drawing on data from the creator agency Whalar for insights. Though we have limited ourselves to creators who post in English, the individuals come from more than a dozen countries, working across TikTok, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, Twitch, X, LinkedIn, Substack, Pinterest, Spotify, Snapchat, and more. 

See the full list of the TIME100 Creators 2026 here

The list also captures the range of these digital voices across industries and categories, including British etiquette expert William Hanson; 10-year-old fashion designer Max Alexander; comedian Drew Desbordes, best known as Druski; commentator Brett Cooper; mathematician Hannah Fry; Shira Lazar, who is leading initiatives to support creators’ mental health; and Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, who is teaching people who want to learn more about AI. Nine top creators participated in our Class of 2026 shoot, from food creator Tini Younger, aka Chef Tini, known for her viral mac and cheese recipe, to pop-culture satirists Boman Martinez-Reid and Delaney Rowe to Twitch streamer Roberto Escanio, aka Fanum. The issue was edited and led by Lucy Feldman and Avery Stone.

For our own work, we think of independent creators the way our predecessors thought about columnists: distinct voices with their own audiences who, when collaborating with TIME, improve the quality of what we offer you. We’re already putting that thinking into practice. Cat Quinn and Maura Higgins have worked as a red-carpet correspondent at our events; travel experts Yaya and Lloyd have been visiting TIME’s World’s Greatest Places for us on Instagram; and Nicolas Heller, better known as New York Nico, will cover soccer, pegged to the World Cup, for TIME. Later this year, along with TIME Studios, we’ll debut a new show with veteran interviewer Piers Morgan. The list of collaborators will continue to grow.

This effort also means embracing the kinds of direct communication many TIME100 Creators are pioneering. Often that happens in person, as TIME gathers with our communities more than 40 times in 2026. Throughout the year, we’ve done more to introduce you to our journalists—rolling out video series featuring TIME reporters and editors, and relaunching our newsletters to better connect readers with the humans whose work defines TIME today. That is the lesson of this moment: we can grow your trust by embracing new ways to strengthen the connection between you and us.
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President Donald Trump is renovating the front of the White House, which he describes as being “horrible” and in “deplorable condition.”

Denouncing mounting criticism from Democratic lawmakers over the attention and funds he has given to renovation projects at the White House and the Washington area, Trump has vowed the main entrance “will be a symbol of extraordinary beauty and pride” when it’s finished.

Trump’s comments over the weekend came after construction workers set up tarp by the scaffolding last week at the North Portico columns.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently offered insight into the project, describing the work as progressing quickly.

“President Trump comes out to greet a world leader, he sees door dings in the pillars and says, ‘Look at all this stuff that needs to be repaired,’” Burgum said during a recent episode of The Katie Miller Podcast. “It’s all historic renovation work.”

In addition to the restoration work on the columns, there is also work being done on the North Portico doors.

A White House official told TIME the doors are undergoing security enhancements and upgrades, with the North Portico project expected to be finished around mid-September.

An official from the Secret Service confirmed security upgrades are taking place to the entrance. It's unclear what those upgrades will entail.

The White House did not respond to queries about the estimated cost of the renovation work being carried out at the North Portico entrance.

The Trump Administration is also considering additional security to the area surrounding the famed D.C. residence.

A proposal released Friday made a pitch for permanently fencing Lafayette Square, the park across from the White House.

Under the proposal, the fences will have entrances that can be open or closed, with the ability to restrict pedestrian access should the Secret Service determine heightened security measures are necessary.

Phased implementation could potentially begin in 2027, but the proposal still requires approval from several federal agencies.

The latest work and plans join a growing list of renovation projects Trump has launched since returning to office as he seeks to refashion both the White House and the nation's capital.

Trump last week announced plans to build a multimillion-dollar granite helicopter landing pad on the South Lawn to accommodate a new fleet of more powerful presidential helicopters.

The controversial and costly demolition of the White House East Wing to make way for a new ballroom has drawn criticism across party aisles.

House Democrats in May introduced legislation in an attempt to block Trump's proposed 250-ft triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has also been met with a series of setbacks. The pool’s new blue paint appeared to be peeling off shortly after renovations as an algae bloom tainted the water green. The Administration blamed individuals who allegedly vandalized the pool.

The latest repairs will be carried out by the same company that previously received a no-bid contract to renovate the pool.

Trump faced another setback after he added his name to the Kennedy Center in December, only for it to be removed in June after a federal judge ruled that only Congress could change the name of the building.

The State Department has launched a campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court over what Secretary of State Marco Rubio called a threat to American sovereignty.

The campaign, announced on Monday, involves a “whole-of-government response to systematically disable the ICC’s ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials, or otherwise threaten American sovereignty.” The Trump Administration is also urging other countries to join the campaign.

The ICC was established by a 2002 treaty to investigate and prosecute war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity when a member of the treaty is unable or unwilling to prosecute the crimes on its own. The U.S. signed but never ratified the Rome Statute, and the ICC has never opened an investigation into alleged crimes committed on U.S. territory.

The court has, however, taken actions against President Donald Trump’s ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It has also opened investigations into American actions overseas, including alleged war crimes committed by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Some human rights organizations and legal experts have also argued that U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific and the U.S. abduction of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro could fall within the ICC’s jurisdiction, as Venezuela is a party to the Rome Statute. The ICC has not opened a formal investigation into the U.S. conduct.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Rubio warned of “a world in which U.S. soldiers, police officers, Border Patrol agents and elected leaders could be dragged before an international court, tried by judges from random countries across the globe, found guilty under international laws we neither consent to nor control.”

“If we stand idle, all of them will be at the mercy of foreign judges, thousands of miles away—facing the constant risk of prosecution and even imprisonment for the so-called ‘crime’ of defending their own country,” Rubio said in a video posted on X.

TIME has reached out to the ICC for comment.

Why is the Trump Administration targeting the ICC?

Trump has openly expressed dislike of the court since his first term. In September 2018, Trump said at the U.N. General Assembly that the ICC had “no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority” over the U.S.

After the ICC moved toward investigating alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in March 2020 that the court was “an unaccountable political institution masquerading as a legal body.”

In June 2020, Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency over the ICC’s attempts to investigate U.S. personnel, calling the court’s actions “illegitimate assertions of jurisdiction.” The order authorized sanctions and visa restrictions on certain ICC officials.

Trump’s antagonism towards the court ramped up after the office of the ICC prosecutor opened an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 in connection with the investigation.

Early into his second term, Trump again declared a national emergency over what he said was the ICC’s “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” The executive order authorized sanctions on ICC officials that supported investigations involving the U.S. or its allies. The sanctions included asset freezes, restrictions on financial transactions, and travel bans.

The sanctions were imposed on ICC prosecutor Karim Khan and several of the court’s judges. The Trump Administration later expanded the sanctions to include U.N. special rapporteur on human rights Francesca Albanese and three Palestinian human rights groups, accusing them of supporting the ICC’s investigations. Rubio said the sanctions were imposed on Albanese because she had “directly engaged with the International Criminal Court” in efforts to investigate or prosecute U.S. and Israeli nationals.

In his op-ed, Rubio argued that the ICC was “backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernment organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments united by their enmity toward the U.S.”

Last month, three ICC judges sued the Trump Administration challenging the 2025 sanctions. The lawsuit, which was filed in New York, is the first time that sitting ICC judges have sued the U.S. government. In the complaint, the judges argued that the sanctions were an attempt to exert “extra-judicial pressure” on the court and undermine their judicial independence.

Some observers have suggested that the State Department’s new campaign is an attempt to preempt possible ICC investigations related to the U.S. military campaign in Venezuela earlier this year. The U.S. carried out dozens of strikes on boats in international waters that killed more than 200 people beginning last September as the Trump Administration alleged the vessels were linked to drug-trafficking from Venezuela.

Human rights organizations have also called for investigations into whether the Trump Administration’s deportations to El Salvador violated international human rights law.

While Iran is not a party to the Rome Statute, U.S. military actions also came under scrutiny after the bombing of a primary school in Minab, Iran, that killed more than 100 children, as well as strikes that hit civilian infrastructure.

Rubio rejected the criticisms and calls for investigations in his op-ed, explicitly referencing Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), one of the organizations that has called for legal examination of U.S. actions.

In a statement, DAWN’s Advocacy Director Raed Jarrar said, “When the world’s most powerful country aims to dismantle the world’s only permanent international court, it sends the message that the powerful are above the law. It is not the ICC that Rubio is dismantling brick by brick–but the rules-based international order that grew out of the ashes of World War II.”

What is the campaign?

The campaign could involve more visa revocations and travel bans for ICC personnel as well as increased sanctions against the court and affiliated organizations, the State Department said.

The Administration is also seeking to pressure other countries to join the campaign, especially countries that partner with U.S. law enforcement and the U.S. military. These nations are “called upon to reject the ICC’s purported authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen,” the Department said.

A U.S. official told CNN that top officials are making diplomatic calls to foreign leaders to persuade them to withdraw from the ICC and cut off financial support to the court.

Countries that rely on U.S. assistance but refuse to reject the ICC’s authority could come under increased scrutiny, according to the announcement.

“Using all the tools at our government’s disposal, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, we will dismantle the ICC—brick by brick, if necessary,” Rubio wrote in the op-ed.