Minister Solly Malatsi pushes for TikTok to pay SA content creators

Communications and digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi has called on TikTok to pay South African content creators.

Only seven countries in the world are included in the TikTok creators’ fund: the US, UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France and Brazil.

The fund allows users with a large following to make money from the platform. Despite South Africa having more than 17-million TikTok users, creators have been excluded from the creators’ fund, with many relying on brand deals and gifts sent by users during TikTok lives to earn an income.

In an interview with eNCA, Malatsi said his department has raised the matter with TikTok’s owners.

“That the creators’ fund is not applicable to South Africa is an economic injustice that needs to be corrected,” he said. “South African TikTok creators have had an impact on the app which has helped enhance TikTok as a platform that continues to generate the amount of revenue it does for itself. That is sufficient grounds to expand the creators’ fund to South Africa. 

“For us to have a meaningful contribution towards the digital economy, digital entrepreneurs like content creators must be fairly rewarded and have access to the monetisation opportunities and rewards that exist in other parts of the world. 

“We engaged with the leadership of TikTok, and we will continue to engage and apply pressure until we get the breakthrough that can represent the economic justice we seek for content creators.” 

Malatsi vowed to “fight” to ensure South African content creators are fairly compensated.

“My role is to fight for South Africa to be treated fairly, to fight for our digital entrepreneurs to get the global recognition they deserve. The impact our content creators have had globally makes it a strong and suitable base. We recognise the number of economic opportunities it would unlock, not only just young creators but small businesses.”

South African creators have been pushing for the fund to make its way to the country. A petition launched on change.org by Thulane Radebe in November said South African creators who “work tirelessly pouring their heart and soul into their content are being overlooked by TikTok’s financial support structure”.