South African Communications Minister Solly Malatsi called on TikTok to extend its monetization programs to South African content creators. 

Speaking at the TikTok Safer Internet Summit 2025 in Cape Town last week, Malatsi highlighted the platform’s impact while pointing to remuneration disparities.

“TikTok’s Creator Fund empowers creators in the U.S., Europe, and parts of Asia, allowing them to monetize their content directly. However, South African and African creators continue to be excluded entirely from this economic opportunity,” Malatsi stated during his keynote address, reports ITWeb, South Africa’s specialized IT news service.

African Creators Limited to Indirect Revenue Streams

South Africa hosts over 17 million active TikTok users, making it one of Africa’s largest TikTok communities. According to Electronics Hub research, South Africa is a country where individuals spend the highest proportion of their waking hours glued to a screen – the average South African spends 56.80% of their daily waking time looking at screens like phones, TVs, and computers.

Despite regularly sparking viral trends, African creators rely solely on brand deals, influencer opportunities, and live gifts for income.

Dominic Zaca, a South African content creator with over a million TikTok followers, confirms that African creators receive no direct platform compensation: “We don’t receive any form of remuneration for anything that we contribute on the platform. Unlike other platforms, we don’t get paid for any views, interactions or likes.”

Market Challenges and Industry Response

Brand sponsorships present additional challenges, as companies often allocate larger budgets for influencer marketing in developed markets. African creators struggle to attract equivalent sponsorship levels due to perceptions of market size, audience valuation, and currency exchange rates.

Malatsi acknowledged implementation complexities, including payment infrastructure and advertising ecosystems, but insisted these factors “can no longer justify exclusion” from the global digital economy.

TikTok’s previous statement indicates they are “committed to exploring ways to reward creators” and notes that Sub-Saharan African creators can currently earn through live gifts, video gifts, subscriptions and Work with Artists programs. The company stated it “continue to look for new ways to enhance our global offerings” based on creator feedback.