Parley unites on monetisation of social media

By GIDEON NYENDWA

PARLIAMENT has unanimously adopted a motion to facilitate the monetization of social media in Zambia.
Nkana Member of Parliament, Binwell Mpundu yesterday moved a motion to urge government to facilitate the monetization of social media in Zambia in order to ensure content creators and influencers earn money through their social media accounts.
Mr Mpundu argued that social media was an avenue for communication and if properly utilized it could become a tool for earning revenue.
He explained that social media monetization simply intells the converting of views, streams and social media interaction into income.
And seconding the motion, Kanfinsa Member of Parliament, Christopher Kang’ombe said the ICT sector was not contributing much to the country’s GDP because social media in the country was not monetized.
He said most people were lament that why must people continue creating content for the social media platforms if they do not generate any revenue from it, that was the question that was being asked.
Meanwhile Minister of Information and Media, Cornelius Mweetwa thanked the movers for the well thought out motion because it was a non-controversial motion.
He also said government has started process of repealing and replacing the IBA act which regulate the social media space in the country.
“This is Act Number 17 of 2002, as we speak right now the process of replacing and repeal is underway and the rational for this was that the dynamics have changed, one of the changes is the advancement in technology,” he said.
Mr Mweetwa said technology had brought had brought new dimensions of content production and access.
He said they were looking at content providers holistically, content for alternative media and traditional media.
Mr Mweetwa said the moving of the motion was a push against an already opened door because what was proposing in the motion was already catered.