Facebook’s new content monetization program is booming, and Indonesian creators are leading the charge, giving the platform a much-needed boost to compete with YouTube and TikTok. The program has grown from under 3 million to 12 million participants in just over a year. Accounts in Bahasa Indonesia made up nearly 15% of the platform’s total monetized accounts in January 2026, forming the largest group of non-English content on the platform.
Until January 2025, Facebook’s content monetization program was splintered across platforms, and growing marginally around the world, with just about 2.7 million total users enrolled. Creators often prioritized rival platforms like YouTube and TikTok because of their younger audiences, better reach, and engagement opportunities. YouTube paid out $70 billion to creators between 2021 and 2023 through its well-reputed partner program, while Facebook only doled out $2 billion in 2024.
To court more creators, Facebook combined all of its monetization schemes, and introduced a new monetization program in October 2024 that rewarded creators on the performance of their content rather than with a share of the ad revenue, similar to TikTok.
Meta did not respond to Rest of World’s request for comment.
The strategy has driven a massive surge of participants in the monetization program. Rest of World analyzed data from the Meta Monetization Archive, a repository created by nonprofit What To Fix. It shows that as of January 2026, there were 12 million monetized accounts across all languages on Facebook — an increase of nearly 10 million accounts in just one year.
Over 8 million of those accounts are in the English language — and the second most popular language is Bahasa Indonesia. There are now 1.7 million Bahasa Indonesia accounts monetized as of early this year, which surpasses all other non-English languages, including Spanish (about 850,000) and Hindi (about 280,000).
Bunga Istyani, director of strategic planning at digital marketing agency We Are Social’s Indonesia arm, told Rest of World in an email that they are witnessing a “Facebook Renaissance,” with creators “returning to Facebook for its resilient reach in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.”
She said that while creators still have a preference for TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, they’ve also started paying attention to Facebook. The platform helps creators build a loyal, paying community, which is especially crucial at a time of declining organic reach on other platforms. It includes the virtual tipping feature “Stars,” which allows followers to send creators money during live broadcasts, and a unique model of Facebook Groups that helps increase engagement.
These features are crucial for markets like Indonesia, where creators are “community leaders” who directly impact sales and revenue, Istyani said.
And they’re seeing results. “For many Indonesian creators, the RPM [revenue per mille, or thousand views] on Facebook has become highly competitive compared to YouTube,” she said.
In addition to these changes, Facebook’s barrier to entry for monetization is relatively low. By merging its content monetization programs under a single umbrella, creators can earn from multiple content formats, including text and photos. YouTube, on the other hand, is largely viewed as tougher to get into, despite boasting higher and more stable payouts.
In Indonesia, gaming and family-related content is among the most popular. Raffi Ahmad, an actor who regularly posts content of his family life, is the second most popular monetized account in Indonesia, with over 16.5 million followers. His popularity led to his appointment as a Special Envoy of the President of Indonesia for Development of Young Generation and Artists.
Other top accounts in the country include traditional news brands like Kompas, Tribunnews, and Liputan6.
“People pay a lot more attention to traditional [news] brands on Facebook than they do on TikTok,” journalist and digital strategist Nic Newman told Rest of World. His Digital News Report 2025, published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, found that in Indonesia, 57% of respondents reported using social media for news consumption, surpassing India and many other countries.
News websites, too, are more than happy to monetize on social media. “In Indonesia, the brands are in quite a weak position; it’s very ad-supported because they’re not subscription-based publishers,” he said. “They’ll take advertising from wherever they can get it.”
