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Friday March 29, 2024

Pakistani creators, you can monetise your Facebook content now

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto launches programme for Facebook monetisation in Pakistan after visit to Meta headquarters in Singapore

By Web Desk
December 10, 2022
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto launches programme for Facebook monetisation in Pakistan after visit to Meta headquarters in Singapore. — AFP/File
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto launches programme for Facebook monetisation in Pakistan after visit to Meta headquarters in Singapore. — AFP/File

Pakistani creators can now earn money of their Facebook content, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto announced following a visit to multinational technology conglomerate Meta's Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore.

FM Bilawal's announcement on Twitter explained that content creators can use the new Facebook Stars feature, which has gone live. 

He called it "big news" and said he was the first Pakistan official to visit Meta.

How the feature works is that the more stars you get, the more money you can earn. 

The Facebook Stars feature allows you to monetise your video content, photo posts, and text posts. Viewers can buy Stars and send them to you while you're live or for on-demand videos that have Stars enabled. 

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visits Meta (Facebook) Asia-Pacific HQ in Singapore. — Twitter/ @ForeignOfficePk
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visits Meta (Facebook) Asia-Pacific HQ in Singapore. — Twitter/ @ForeignOfficePk

The FM hoped the youth of Pakistan in particular will get more productive use out of their social media through this new feature.

He also highlighted how the feature helps create opportunities for women and the youth amid economic setbacks.

The foreign minister was on a two-day visit to Singapore at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart. Earlier, he also met Singapore President Halimah Yacob and held a breakfast meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

During his meetings with President Yacob and FM Balakrishnan, the FM Bilawal emphasised the importance accorded by Pakistan to its relations with Singapore, which is a key partner in ASEAN.

The two foreign ministers noted the importance of regular interaction and dialogue, exchange of high-level visits and to promote people-to-people contacts.

They agreed to unlock the potential for economic cooperation and collaborate in agriculture, digital economy and digital finance. They exchanged views on the regional situation and agreed to stay engaged to promote mutually beneficial cooperation.

In a first, Google gets registered in Pakistan

In another feat for the development of Pakistan's tech industry, Alphabet unit Google registered itself as a company for the first time in the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), paving way for other multi-national companies to open offices in the country.

The tech giant, based in the United States, registered itself with the SECP as in line with the “Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules, 2021”, social media companies had to open offices in the country.

In conversation with Geo News, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque had said following the registration of the American multinational technology company, other social media platforms will also establish offices in Pakistan.

“TikTok will soon set up its office in Pakistan. Companies remain reluctant due to the lack of trust and inconsistent policies,” he had said while maintaining that his ministry will offer complete support to foreign companies.

Pakistan’s government, as per social media rules, has made registration mandatory for companies and Google registered itself as a company in this context.

Data will be safe if Google’s server is built in Pakistan. Even now, data of all companies including social media gets stored outside Pakistan.