Communications Minister Solly Malatsi Calls on TikTok to Pay South African Creators
- Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi urged TikTok to open its monetisation programmes to South African content creators
- Malatsi described the exclusion of local creators from TikTok's earning tools as unequal treatment compared to US and UK creators
- South Africa has an estimated 17 million TikTok users, yet tools like the Creator Fund remain largely unavailable across Africa
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SOUTH AFRICA - South African TikTok creators may finally get the attention they deserve. Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi has publicly called on TikTok to extend its monetisation programmes to South African creators.
Malatsi argues that local creators are being left behind despite contributing significantly to the platform.
Malatsi reiterates call for the monetisation of SA content
According to MyBroadband, Malatsi made clear that his push was not about asking TikTok for something new.
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"We are not advocating for something that is new to TikTok. We're advocating for the same equal treatment of content creators in South Africa, as they do in the US, as they do in the UK," he said.
The minister pointed out that South African creators are producing original content and shaping trends on the platform, yet most cannot earn directly from that work. He described this as a form of economic exclusion and called on TikTok to remedy it by making its reward systems accessible locally.
SA creators left out of TikTok's earning tools
Monetisation features such as TikTok's Creator Fund and TikTok Shop, which are available to creators in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia, remain largely out of reach across Africa, including South Africa. This has been a growing source of frustration for local creators who build large audiences but have limited options to generate income from the platform itself.
TikTok's growing footprint in South Africa
The timing of Malatsi's call is significant given TikTok's rising footprint in the country. According to the 2025 Social Media Landscape Report by Ornico and World Wide Worx, TikTok's user reach in South Africa grew from 34% in 2023 to 38.6% in 2024. The country is estimated to have roughly 17 million TikTok users, a base large enough to make the absence of direct monetisation tools all the more glaring.
Malatsi's intervention adds weight to an ongoing conversation about whether global platforms are treating African creators fairly. His call centres on one straightforward principle: if creators in wealthier markets can earn from TikTok, South African creators should be able to do the same.
Communications deputy minister makes appeal to Elon Musk
Briefly News also reported that Deputy Minister of Communications and Technology Mondli Gungubele publicly appealed to Elon Musk to bring Starlink to South Africa Starlink has not launched in South Africa, with Musk citing the country's 30% Black ownership requirement as his reason. Gungubele issued the call on Monday, 29 September 2026, at an event hosted by Bloomberg near Cape Town.
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Source: Briefly News
