It's the difference in difficulty for the criteria.

https://www.pathlawgroup.com/o1b-visa-requirements/

    For all other candidates, at least three of the following criteria must be met in order to qualify for the O1B visa:
    Having been or will be performing a lead or starring role in productions or events which have a distinguished national or international reputation (as evidenced by critical reviews, advertisements, press releases, publications contracts, or endorsements)
    Critical reviews or other published material in professional or major trade publications or in the major media by or about the applicant which show that the applicant has achieved national or international recognition or achievements
    Evidence of performance in a lead, starring or critical role for organizations or establishments with distinguished reputations
    Evidence of a record of major commercial or critically acclaimed successes in the performing arts, as shown by box office receipts or record, cassette, compact disk, or video sales
    Evidence of significant recognition for achievements from organizations, government agencies, or other recognized experts in the field
    Evidence of having commanded a high salary or other significantly high remuneration for services in relation to others
    Other comparable evidence (This category is not available for those in the motion picture industry)

For an influencer... some number of anonymous followers?

There are certainly some that would qualify... but it they should be held to the same standards as others.

There's a boy band, Boy Throb who specifically leveraged visa application in their recent content, and their immigration attorney advised the visa would be approved when they got 1,000,000 followers. They filmed themselves singing and dancing outside the US Immigration office to help one of their members applications.

Their visa application content is rather silly/absurd:

https://www.tiktok.com/@boy.throb/video/7572273147743980831

https://www.tiktok.com/@boy.throb/video/7567806911580622110

https://www.tiktok.com/@boy.throb/video/7584876341267270943

For a Youtube influencer I can see them meet 3 of the criteria by showing their influence on others, money earned, Youtube awards for viewership (by Google!). Maybe some platforms lend themselves more to being used for this sort of evidence than others.

- Evidence of a record of major commercial or critically acclaimed successes in the performing arts, as shown by box office receipts or record, cassette, compact disk, or video sales

- Evidence of significant recognition for achievements from organizations, government agencies, or other recognized experts in the field

- Evidence of having commanded a high salary or other significantly high remuneration for services in relation to others

Well if your audience is larger than an average CNN show, and you earn north of a million a year, don't you qualify?

I wonder people who have enough karma on the HN leaderboard would count...

A lot of youtube influencers are damn good at entertainment though, and a lot of “traditional media” entertainers are truely horrid. Ever seen a reality tv show? lol

Seeing as how it's is trivial to buy followers, that metric should be completely abandoned, it's not legitimate.

> For traditional arts, you've gotta be good.

> > advertisements, press releases, publications contracts, or endorsements

> > box office receipts or record, cassette, compact disk, or video sales

> > Evidence of having commanded a high salary or other significantly high remuneration for services in relation to others

I fail to see the distinction you are trying to draw. Commercial value and celebrity has always been one of the metrics of "achievement".

The overall gist is that the visa application should be someone who is not easily replaced by an existing local worker that can generate similar value.