As social media creators face mounting cybersecurity threats, insurance industry veteran James Moran presents Sociable, a first-of-its-kind insurance platform offering coverage for up to 25 platforms and targeting the social media cybercrime market. 

The inspiration for this venture came from an unexpected source—James’ daughter’s Instagram account was hacked when she was 12. 

“The person that hacked her account just ended up deleting it,” James reveals. “It made no sense to me.”

That incident led him to investigate social media security issues, revealing a significant market opportunity. “Social media hacking and the crime around it is [a] massive problem that everybody knows, but nobody knows how to address,” he explains. “It’s over $3 billion a year in cybercrime.”

Sociable aims to protect creators’ income streams when their accounts are compromised. James illustrates the concept with a high-profile example: “Everybody knows MrBeast. Say he makes ten grand on YouTube daily, and he’s hacked. If he doesn’t have that account, that’s $10,000 every day that he’s missing out on.”

Set to launch in early 2025, Sociable has already pre-registered 3,300 creators for its beta launch. It combines traditional insurance principles with AI-powered prevention tools. 

Priced at around 2% of protected earnings, Sociable promises account recovery within days—starkly contrasting platforms’ typical ten-day response time. James notes that hackers only take ten minutes to get into an account when they target someone.

Sociable’s solution involves direct partnerships with major social platforms. “Once you connect to our platform, you’re giving us authorization to go to Instagram on your behalf,” James explains. “We can recover the account directly from the platforms within a day or two.”

According to James, with creators monetizing across multiple platforms, the company acts as a critical safety net for them. However, connecting traditional insurance and the creator economy presents unique challenges. 

“Insurance is a massive industry, but it’s really old, antiquated, full of what I would call old heads – people that just don’t understand creators, creator economy, social media,” James says. “Then you got content creators at the bleeding edge of what they’re doing.”

Securing insurance backing for this novel concept required persistence. James reports having “40 or 50 back-and-forth conversations with [carriers] between zooms and emails of trying to prove the market.”

Nevertheless, after securing initial angel funding in his first pitch meeting, James has finalized backing from a major insurance carrier.

Filling the Social Media Insurance Gap

Sociable is positioning itself to address what its founder calls a “black hole of coverage” in the insurance industry. While several companies offer digital asset protection, James notes that “nothing covers social media.” 

“Even traditional home renters, things like that, commercial – they either exclude social media or don’t list it as a covered area for data breaches,” he adds.

The platform combines insurance with proactive security features. One notable innovation is its multi-user alert system. “If somebody tried to hack an Instagram [account] and I was copied on the alerts, I’d get a text the minute that it happens,” James explains, describing how parents can monitor their children’s accounts.

Sociable is also developing a Social Will feature that addresses account ownership transfer in cases of death. “If you’re a creator [or business] who’s making money and you want your kids to be able to take that over, we can transfer those accounts to another user,” James states.

Premium-Based Protection with AI-Powered Prevention

Sociable’s business model centers on insurance premiums calculated as a percentage of creators’ earnings across platforms.

The pricing structure is straightforward: approximately 2% of the coverage amount is charged. With the average creator earning $44,000 annually, James estimates typical monthly coverage of around $3,500. The policy covers lost earnings for up to 90 days following an account hack.

To minimize claims, Sociable is developing an AI-powered prevention system. “We’re building an AI lockout tool,” James reveals. “If you connect your accounts and it’s running, you will get a notification. We’ll walk you through the process of recovering the account, whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, or anything.”

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Inside Sociable’s Security Stack

As social media hacking incidents rise, Sociable addresses digital security’s technical and psychological aspects. The 3,300 pre-registered creators indicate a strong demand for creator-focused security solutions.

“If you’ve ever been hacked or experienced a hack, ten or 11% of those people don’t go back to social,” James notes, highlighting the devastating impact of account breaches. 

He cites a recent case in which a creator lost $5,000 in ransom and saw hackers extract an additional $13,000 from friends and family through social engineering.

Sociable’s technical implementation prioritizes security without sacrificing convenience. “We’re only using single sign-on or passkey, so we’re not using passwords,” James explains. “It uses biometrics with local encryption to your device.”

The platform is building compatibility with 20 to 25 platforms. “Creators monetize over three or four accounts typically,” James says. “We’re building out as much coverage across platforms as possible.”

Sociable’s approach includes customizable alerts across all platforms. “TikTok may send you an email, or Instagram may send you a push notification,” James notes. “We essentially combine all of the alerts in one. We notify you and any other friends and family you want.”

Mission to End Social Media Hacking

Despite his rich insurance background, James’s ambitions for Sociable extend beyond risk management. 

“I love the insurance component, but I want to end social media hacking,” he says. “There’s no reason it can’t be done.”

The company is preparing for an ongoing technological arms race with cybercriminals. “Hackers and scammers, you got to have a little respect for,” James acknowledges. “They’re so damn clever.” He anticipates hackers will probe for vulnerabilities as Sociable releases solutions requiring constant innovation.

James sees Sociable’s startup status as an advantage in this dynamic environment. “We’re very adaptive,” he explains. “When we see something we need to address, we can address it quickly. We’re not taking weeks or months to do it because these guys, as soon as they see that this avenue might be cut off from them, they’re going to figure out some other way.”

As Sociable has attracted investor attention and early validation, securing angel investment in its first pitch meeting, James is now preparing for its next round of investor presentations.