Jack Toohey’s short, sharp and socially attuned videos usually attract attention, with a recent video on who pays the most tax no different.

The 81-second video explains how much tax a wealthy property investor, a late-career professional, a wealthy retiree and a young full-time worker – all played by Toohey – will pay, and explains why young people are shouldering the burden because of the difference in income and asset taxes.

Although his content across TikTok and Instagram has struck a chord with young people, generating millions of views in the process, he doesn’t want anyone to call him an influencer.

“I’m not really influencing people to buy stuff,” he told The New Daily.

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‘Finding ways to be ethical’

“I’m trying to make sure I’m finding ways to be ethical and have integrity in the storytelling I’m doing, so at least I can earn people calling me a communicator.”

The video wants people to help solve the problem by filling in a survey from Think Forward to help them in “making change at the systems level.”

Toohey said it is always a challenge trying to get people to click a link after a video, let alone fill in a survey.

“People can feel that things aren’t right with the economy and with the climate and they’re starved for short-form content that explains the big issues for them,” he said.

“I’ve just got to keep people engaged for long enough in that very small 90 seconds or so that people feel like they’re getting that need met at some point.”

Going viral

The video featuring Toohey going back in time to 1983 – complete with ’80s pastiche music and style – to compare the experiences of buying a house in the past to 2023, has been viewed more than 20 million times across different platforms.

“Younger people have naturally disengaged with traditional media, for a couple of reasons, but probably mostly because of trust,” Toohey said.

“I think also attention spans have gotten really short, so even if they did trust the media, they may not have the attention span to engage anyway.”

Toohey knows content creation, having previously worked in branding and the music industry, but decided to step in front of the camera for the first time because he felt he wasn’t having a positive impact.

“I could see all these problems with climate and equality, and it was really something that I was thinking about a lot,” he said.

“It wasn’t something I was able to advocate as much for when I was running a business, so I made the difficult decision to step away from that so I could focus on some way of advocating, speaking or communicating about issues.”

Going mainstream

Toohey’s content touches on social issues facing young people in Australia, from climate change, energy prices, buying a house and unemployment, in 90-second clips packed full of data, graphs and commentary.

“I knew when I made my housing crisis video that I was onto something,” he said.

“It went viral on both TikTok and Instagram, and then to No.1 on Reddit, and it took me onto the news and to Parliament House. I never expected it to go that far.”

Toohey’s TikTok now has 1.9 million likes and more than 100,000 followers, and he has been asked to speak at rallies promoting solutions to the rental crisis.

Having worked with people who were famous to launch their own brands, the 30-year-old from Sydney said he never wanted or expected to find himself recognised in public.

“I was at my parent’s house talking to my dad and a nice lady walked up and said, ‘Oh Jack, I just want to say I love your content’,” he said.

“I DJ as well, on the weekends just to make ends meet while I figure out how to actually make money from what I’m doing, so I’m sometimes recognised doing that.”

Toohey is focusing on producing more content and a documentary film about regenerative agriculture, which will be released in the next few months.