A long-standing call from Liberian content creators is now taking shape as Meta shows progress in monetising the platform in Liberia. Recently, Liberian content creators confirmed receiving notifications, which form part of the initial processes involved in monetising their Facebook pages.
This is happening a few days after the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), in collaboration with the Ministries of Information and Youth and Sports, conducted a two-day (May 6-7) training for content creators in Liberia.
The training was part of preparation for Facebook and TikTok monetisation. Earlier this year, LTA Chairperson Clarence Massaquoi met with Meta Executives (owner of Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads) in Nigeria to propose Liberia’s quest for monetisation. LTA Commissioner Patrick Honnah also met with TikTok Executives in Nairobi, Kenya, this year, reiterating their desire for content monetisation.
Looking at progress made, DUBAWA decided to evaluate what social media monetisation means for Liberians, the opportunities and how it could potentially contribute to amplifying disinformation.
Monetisation is bigger than just online platforms paying creators. Liberia is entering a new phase of the digital economy where visibility, engagement, and attention can increasingly be converted into income. That shift has implications not only for livelihoods and entrepreneurship but also for the broader information ecosystem. Importantly, monetisation itself does not automatically create disinformation. Rather, monetisation can strengthen incentives that reward highly engaging content, whether true or false. Meaning, not all creators or monetised content are harmful.
However, content moderation is a major challenge for African countries. Content moderation in Africa relies heavily on outsourced human labour and automated tools. Tech Companies primarily moderate content for less than 20 of the continent’s 2,000 languages, creating severe gaps in handling hate speech, misinformation and disinformation, at the same time raising concerns about the psychological toll on local workers.
Furthermore, AI-driven moderation systems are primarily trained on Western datasets. This means that if a person uses local dialect (example: kpelleh, bassa, krahn, mano) to create disinformation or make content against Facebook’s community standards, the system cannot detect it, and the platform (Facebook) may not be able to take action against such creators.
The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), through its DAIDAC department in 2024, conducted research on the impact of financial incentives on the spread of disinformation using twitter/X ads revenue sharing as a case study. The study found that once engagement becomes financially rewarding, creators may begin optimising for virality, outrage, emotional engagement, and sensationalism rather than accuracy. It also observed significant increases in reposts and impressions for misleading content after monetisation policies were introduced on X/Twitter, with many misleading posts remaining online even after being flagged by professional fact-checkers.
A media expert, policy analyst working on AI governance and Executive Director of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Akintunde Babatunde, shared his expert opinion on the opportunities meta monetisation will bring to Liberia, the risks of disinformation and what government tech companies can do to regulate the process.
Opportunities
Facebook monetisation opening in Liberia creates a genuine economic pathway for content creators who previously had no formal income from their work. For a country where media employment is precarious, this could support independent journalism, local storytelling, youth entrepreneurship, and broader participation in the digital economy. The LTA’s proactive training initiative is a smart first step, and the inclusion of social media ethics in the curriculum signals some awareness of the risks ahead.
Disinformation risks
The core risk is more structural. The same engagement metrics that determine creator earnings, views, shares, and reactions are what disinformation is best at generating. Emotionally charged, conflict-adjacent, and politically sensational content consistently outperforms accurate but less dramatic reporting. When income depends on virality, the incentive to produce or amplify disinformation increases, even without conscious intent. Liberia should expect similar dynamics to what we observed in our X/Twitter study, and what has been visible in Nigeria and Kenya’s digital ecosystems.
What can be done to limit the risk?
Platforms must tie monetisation eligibility to content integrity standards, not just follower counts or virality and technical compliance on paper. Maybe organisations like DUBAWA Liberia should push for a formal referral channel with Meta where flagged monetised accounts face payment suspension, not just content removal. The training covering ethics and best practices is necessary but insufficient without enforcement mechanisms attached to it.
What can the government do to minimise risks?
Government responses should not focus only on censorship or speech restrictions. Many African governments sometimes invoke disinformation concerns while simultaneously expanding control over online expression, and that pattern undermines both press freedom and public trust. A more constructive approach should involve investing in digital literacy, creator ethics education, platform transparency requirements, stronger fact-checking partnerships, local moderation capacity, and accountability systems for repeat misinformation actors. Specifically, the government should require Meta to publish transparency reports for Liberia covering what content is being monetised, what is being removed, and what appeals processes exist for creators.
What technology companies must do?
Meta should extend its misinformation policies explicitly to monetised content. A creator earning from a false claim should face immediate demonetization, not just a label or a warning. Platforms historically underinvest in African content moderation systems, local languages, and contextual expertise, which means monetisation may expand faster than accountability systems.
Creator’s responsibility
Creators should treat monetisation as a professional credential, not just an income stream. That means verifying claims before posting, disclosing sponsored content, and understanding that a false viral post that earns money today can result in demonetisation and reputational damage tomorrow. DUBAWA Liberia is well-positioned to develop a creator ethics charter that sets the standard before problems become entrenched.
Liberia is not simply entering social media monetisation, but entering the political economy of digital visibility, where attention itself becomes economically valuable. Liberia’s entering monetisation relatively later than countries like Nigeria or Kenya is actually an opportunity to learn from experiences already visible in other African digital ecosystems.
That framing helps readers understand why this issue matters beyond entertainment or creator income alone, and positions Liberia to make more deliberate choices before some of these dynamics become deeply entrenched.