DRAPAC 2025: When Social Media Platform Monetize Sanctioned Actors

 
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EVENT

DRAPAC 2025

 
WHEN: 26-28 August 2025
WHERE: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
WEBSITE: https://drap.ac/25/
 
WHAT TO FIX attended the third edition of DRAPAC - Asia Pacific’s annual digital rights gathering - held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 26 to 28 August 2025.
The event was an excellent opportunity for us to reconnect with activists and researchers from across the region and beyond, and to exchange valuable knowledge and insights.
In collaboration with colleagues from Digitally Right Bangladesh and the Myanmar Internet Project, we hosted a lively discussion on social media monetization.
Using concrete examples of monetization partnerships with sanctioned and human right violating entities as a starting point, we unpacked the rapid expansion of social media monetization services, and outlined key concerns over platforms’ lack of adequate monetization governance.
DRAPAC was also the occasion for us at WHAT TO FIX to softlaunch monetization.wtf and our Meta Monetization Archive, bringing unique resources to the community which can help expand research on the topic.
As we had shared at last year’s DRAPAC, Asia sits at the epicenter when it comes to social media monetization — with millions of accounts monetized, and ever more countries being granted monetization eligibility.
 
 
♦️ Nearly 50% of all monetized accounts globally are admined out of Asia, while Asian languages account for nearly 25% of all monetized account.
♦️ Bahasa Indonesia alone counts over 1.1 million monetized accounts, which is more than all monetized accounts in Spanish (570k), Arabic (190k), Portuguese (100k), French (60k) and Chinese (30k) language combined.
♦️ Languages like Thai (460k), Hindi (150k), Bengali (130k), Tagalog (80k), Vietnamese (20k) and Malay (20k) are also among the top 15.
 
While we see significant potential for social media monetization services to boost Asian economies, we’re deeply concerned by the lack of due diligence and transparency and oversight when it comes to platforms’ monetization services.
We’re also deeply concerned by how these programs currently incentivize the development and use of inauthentic automation strategies — which have the potential to supercharge the availability of disinformation-for-hire services, and to further amplify many of the social-media related harms that have plagued the region and the world.