🎯 PNG’s Missed Digital Goldmine: Why Our Creators Still Can’t Earn Online

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 For more than 10 years, people in countries like Kenya, India, and the Philippines have been earning real money by simply uploading videos, short clips, and other content to platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.

Many of them, including young people in their early 20s, are making more than K4,000 per month, which is equal to around USD $1,000. That’s more than what many people in regular office jobs in PNG earn.

So how does this work?

💡 What Is Monetisation?

“Monetisation” means turning views and likes on your online content into money. Platforms like YouTube pay you when people watch the ads that appear on your videos.

For example:

  • A YouTube video that gets 100,000 views might earn the creator around K500 to K2,000, depending on where the viewers are from and the type of content.

  • Platforms like TikTok and Facebook also pay creators when their content gets popular.

These platforms send payments through systems like Google AdSense or digital wallets like PayPal. That’s how millions of creators around the world now make a living, simply by creating content online and getting paid for it.

🌍 The Missed Opportunity for PNG

Papua New Guineans are creative. We dance, sing, tell stories, and use smartphones every day. Many young people are already making videos and sharing them online.

But here’s the problem: even if their videos go viral, most of them can’t get paid.

This is not because PNG youth lack talent, inspiration, or internet access. It is mainly because:

  • Our banks don’t support payments from YouTube or other social media platforms

  • Our laws don’t compel banks to make it easy for creators to receive income from abroad

  • There is no local support to connect global payments to PNG bank accounts

So while creators in other countries are earning money every day, most PNG creators are just getting views but no income.

✅ What Has the Government Done So Far?

To be fair, the Department of ICT (DICT) has taken some good steps:

  • They worked with Google to make YouTube monetisation available in PNG

  • They’ve held digital youth expos to raise awareness

  • They’ve started conversations with companies like Meta (Facebook and Instagram) to bring monetisation here too

As DICT Secretary Steven Matainaho said in a recent interview:

“The extended YouTube Partner Program has been enabled in PNG. We are now doing the same with Facebook and Instagram platforms.”

This is a positive move, but it’s only part of the solution.

🏦 What’s Still Blocking Creators?

Even though YouTube is now “monetised” in PNG, most people still cannot receive money.

Why? Because:

  • PNG banks do not support PayPal or other popular digital payment systems

  • Small payments from YouTube often get blocked or delayed

  • There’s no law requiring banks to support digital income for creators

  • Most creators don’t have access to international accounts that are needed to collect their money

This is not a technical issue. It is a policy issue and a leadership one.

📢 What Needs to Happen Next

The government says they want to create jobs for young people. They want to support small businesses. They want to improve digital access.

Here’s a chance to do all three at once.

We need our Members of Parliament to act. If there is already a law that allows content creators to receive money, it must be enforced. If no such law exists, someone must create one now.

Think about it: if just 5,000 young people in PNG earned K2,000 per month from content creation, that’s K10 million per month flowing into the country, all from the global digital economy.

This is more than just likes and views. This is real employment. This is foreign exchange. This is the future.

💭 Final Thought

Papua New Guineans are not behind in talent or creativity. We are behind in systems and support.

It’s time for our policymakers, banks, and institutions to catch up. Let’s stop watching the rest of the world make money on social media and start earning from it ourselves.

Let our creators earn. Let our country grow.

#MonetisePNG #DigitalYouthEmployment #SocialMediaEconomy #BankingPolicy #DICT #LegislationMatters #YouTubeInPNG #TikTokPNG #EmpowerCreators #ForexForPNG

References

  1. YouTube Monetisation Enabled in PNG : https://www.postcourier.com.pg/png-content-creators-now-can-monetise-on-youtube

  2. Government Response on Monetisation Efforts : https://www.postcourier.com.pg/secretary-matainaho-defends-govt-efforts-with-youtube-monetisation

  3. DICT Statement on Monetisation Rollout: https://www.facebook.com/secretarypngdict/posts/great-news-for-png-digital-content-creatorsyoutube-partnership-program-is-now-en/952043430257588

  4. Google AdSense Payment Methods and Eligibility by Country: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/1714397?hl=en

  5. Community-Based Example: YouTube Payments in PNG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFJFHv9D2zM


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