The dimly lit bedrooms and makeshift studios across Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa, where ring lights glow against cracked walls and smartphones propped on maize-flour sacks capture the dreams of Kenya’s burgeoning creator economy, received a rude jolt on the evening of November 20, 2025. An email from Meta, blandly titled “Update to Monetisation Tax Requirements – Kenya”, landed in thousands of inboxes with the devastating news that starting January 1, 2026, the tech giant will deduct a 5 percent withholding tax on all earnings paid to Kenyan content creators on Facebook, Instagram Reels, and other monetised products. The deduction, which Meta says is now mandatory under Kenya Revenue Authority regulations introduced in the Finance Act 2024, will be remitted directly to KRA, leaving creators with significantly less take-home pay at a time when many have turned full-time to digital content amid a brutal job market. “Effective January 1, 2026, Meta will be required to deduct and remit a 5% withholding tax on earnings paid to residents of Kenya,” the email read in part, its clinical tone doing little to soften the blow. “This change is due to updated tax regulations in Kenya that require businesses to deduct withholding tax on payments made to creators based in the country.”
For 28-year-old Nairobi-based comedian Vincent Omondi, better known as Omondi Comedy whose Reels regularly hit two million views, the announcement felt like a personal betrayal. Sitting in his single-room rental in Pipeline estate, he read the email aloud to his 1.2 million followers in a live session that drew 45,000 viewers within minutes. “From next year, every Sh100 I earn, Sh5 goes straight to KRA before it even touches my M-Pesa,” he said, his usual humour replaced by a quiet fury. “I left my Sh28,000 bank job in 2024 because Reels was paying me Sh400,000 a month. Now they want to tax me even before I see the money? How is this fair?” His live chat filled with crying emojis and angry outbursts from fellow creators, many of whom revealed they had received the same email moments earlier.
The tax applies to all forms of creator earnings—Reels Play bonuses, in-stream ads, fan subscriptions, Stars, and even paid online events—regardless of whether the creator has a KRA PIN or has filed returns. Unlike the previous system where creators were expected to declare earnings and pay income tax themselves at rates of up to 30 percent, the new withholding tax acts as an advance collection, deducted at source. Creators can later claim credit when filing annual returns, but for the thousands operating in the informal economy, the immediate cash-flow hit is devastating. “Most of us live cheque to cheque—sorry, bonus to bonus,” said 24-year-old beauty influencer Mercy Achieng from Kisumu, whose skincare tutorials earn her between Sh250,000 and Sh600,000 monthly. “That 5 percent is my rent, my mother’s medication, my little sister’s school fees. By the time I file returns and maybe get a refund in 2027, I will be on the streets.”
The move stems from amendments in the Finance Act 2024 that classified foreign digital platforms as withholding tax agents for payments to Kenyan residents. KRA had issued public notices in July 2025 warning platforms like Meta, YouTube, and TikTok to comply or face penalties, with Meta becoming the first major player to announce implementation. YouTube and TikTok are expected to follow suit before mid-2026. “This is not Meta taxing creators; this is the Kenyan government using Meta as its tax collector,” explained tax consultant Anthony Mwangi during a heated X Space that drew 12,000 listeners on November 21. “The law says any payment to a resident for services, including digital content creation, attracts 5 percent withholding tax if paid by a non-resident company. Meta is simply complying to avoid KRA blocking their services.”
The timing could not be worse. Kenya’s creator economy, estimated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Creative Economy to be worth Sh42 billion in 2025 and supporting over 500,000 direct jobs, has become a lifeline for Gen Z and millennials facing 67 percent youth unemployment. Many creators had banked on December bonuses—the highest-earning month—to clear school fees and medical bills. “December Reels bonus is usually double or triple,” said Mombasa-based travel vlogger Fatma Ali, who supports her extended family of eight on Instagram earnings. “Now 5 percent of that is gone before I even see it. And if I don’t have a PIN, do they just keep it forever?”
Meta’s email offered a small olive branch: creators who provide a valid KRA tax exemption certificate or proof of tax compliance will have the withholding rate reduced or waived entirely. But for the majority who operate informally, obtaining such documentation involves navigating KRA’s notoriously slow iTax system and paying penalties for previous non-compliance. “They want us to pay taxes for money we haven’t even received yet,” complained Eric Mutai, a 31-year-old gaming streamer from Eldoret whose Facebook Gaming subscriptions are his family’s sole income. “This will kill the creator economy before it even matures.”
By Friday morning, November 22, the hashtag #HandsOffCreators was trending number one in Kenya with over 180,000 posts, featuring tearful videos of creators showing their rent arrears, hospital bills, and school fee balances. A petition on Change.org titled “Stop Taxing Dreams” had gathered 87,000 signatures in 24 hours. The Kenya Creators Association announced plans for a physical protest at KRA headquarters in Times Tower on December 2, while several top creators threatened to move their content exclusively to TikTok and YouTube, which have not yet announced similar deductions.
KRA responded with a statement urging creators to “embrace tax compliance as responsible citizens,” promising outreach programmes to help obtain PINs and file returns. But for Omondi Comedy, now staring at a December payout that will be thousands lighter, the damage is already done. “They call us the creative economy,” he said, ending his live session with a bitter laugh. “Now they’ve creatively found a way to make us broke.”
The deduction: 5% on all earnings from January 1, 2026. Affected platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Stars, subscriptions. Creator economy value.ke: Sh42 billion 2025. Jobs: 500,000 direct. Omondi’s earnings drop: Sh20,000 monthly. Achieng’s rent: covered by 5%. Ali’s family: eight members. Mutai’s gaming: sole income. Petition signatures: 87,000 in 24 hours. Protest date: December 2 Times Tower. In Kenya’s digital dreamscape, the tax descends—a 5% slice where creativity confronts compliance, and creators count the cost.
