Namibia believes its small population has an impact on its online creators' ability to commercialise material on social media platforms.
Emma Theofelus, Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revealed that she had meetings with executives from some of the world's most major social media companies to discuss the matter, but the outlook was grim so far.
The made the announcement during a recently finished stakeholders' workshop in Nkurenkuru, in the country's north.
“Namibia is not the only African country that is challenged with monetisation, because of our population,” the minister added.
She added: “We need to understand that the platforms being used are not Namibia. They are also not registered in Namibia. They do not have a point of presence in Namibia.”
The minister went to explain that she met with officials from the social media platforms after Namibian content creators became increasingly vocal about their inability to directly monetise material on key platforms.
Nonetheless, minister of ICT recognised local social media influencers who took part in the Ethical Use of Social Media challenge, which was launched in August to encourage responsible, safe, and courteous online communication.
The winner was awarded N$15,000 (US$935), the runner-up N$3,000 (US$187), and the second runner-up N$2,000 (US$124).
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