4 December 2025
These are AI-generated photos that social media influencers have spread in Vhembe. The post on the left shows the McDonald’s outlet at Elim Mall on fire. There are some clues that the photo is fake. For one thing, the people on the verandah are standing calmly as if nothing is happening. The right image shows a young woman carrying a tray with an elephant head on it. A clue that it is fake is that a person of this size would not be able to carry a tray full of meat and an elephant head (and without even grimacing). Both photos were downloaded from Facebook.
Facebook is actively promoting clickbait and the spread of fake news - and rewarding the people who create it.
This is especially true in regions like the Vhembe district, where the tech giant’s algorithms battle to understand local languages.
The result is that a new generation of content creators is having a field day posting misinformation and disinformation and being paid for it, with little to no regard for the consequences of their actions.
During November this year, several stories that later turned out to be fake news or clickbait with distorted information went viral.
One story was about two elephants shot by rangers near Khubvi village, just northeast of Thohoyandou. The story was real, but the details were exaggerated.
One content provider attached a picture of a girl carrying a tray of meat that was supposedly to be eaten during a “feast”. On the tray was the complete head of an elephant. Some social media users pointed out that it would be nearly impossible for a girl to carry an elephant’s head on a tray. It turns out that the picture was created using AI software.
A week later, pictures and videos started circulating claiming that the Shoprite store in Shayandima was burning down. Shocked residents rushed to the scene, only to find that there was no fire. The pictures and videos were fake, created by AI.
The same day, a similar video falsely claimed the McDonald’s outlet at Elim Mall was on fire.
These videos are copying a fast-growing trend in Vhembe – becoming a “Facebook journalist” and earning good money for dodgy content.
AI-generated image of Shoprite in Shayandima burning. A clue that it is fake is that the smoke is blowing in the opposite direction to the flags. Photo screen captured from Facebook.
So, why would people go as far as creating fake videos and stirring up emotions? It may well be because it is financially worthwhile to create viral videos.
After all, Facebook will pay their creators for them without checking.
Fulufhelo Rita Maremeni describes herself as a digital content creator. She covers trends, court cases, entertainment, politics and gossip, and she has a Facebook following of 99,000.
We met Maremeni at Waterval a few weeks ago. She was attending the court case of controversial comedian and socialite Livhuwani Madazhe, who was appearing on fraud and murder charges. Ironically, SABC Livhu, as he is more commonly known, also earns income from his activities as a social media persona.
Maremeni was asked whether it was worthwhile being a “Facebook reporter”. She said it was, showing off her latest payment of R9,087 ($500) from Facebook.
But it is hard work, she says. She needs to meet Facebook’s targets, posting dozens of times every day and keeping her audience engaged. Some of the money she earns is from posting the short reels she produces. But she also has to continuously game Facebook’s algorithm, ensuring that her posts are seen as popular.
She is subject to criticism and attacks, with many labelling her a clickbait reporter, earning her the nickname “Rita the Blogger”. On 4 June, SABC Livhu commented on his Facebook page: “Rita, you are nothing without me; you are too quiet, like a child whose diaper is full.”
Maremeni’s posts are mainly news regurgitated from other media sources. She copies news from publications like Daily Sun and TV channels that include eTV and the SABC, and merely adds some comment in Tshivenda. There are no links back to news websites, as these would trigger the algorithm and the posts would be less likely to be displayed.
Maremeni does not subscribe to any journalistic codes, such as the Press Council’s ethics code. “And what if you get sued for the content you place?” we asked. “I will just delete it,” was the reply.
Another Vhembe-based content creator, Netshavhakololo Awelani from Makuya, produces a short video series called Apocalypto.
“I took a gap year after completing my matric in 2022,” she said, during which she made her own short movies. “The movies were very popular back then, and I wanted to bring that vibe back. I work alone using my phone, no team, no professional equipment.”
One 29-second reel she produced reached 597,000 views and earned her $26. The reel had 12,012 engagements with an average viewing time of 19 seconds. It is not a lucrative income stream, but it all adds up. She also advertises for other people on her Facebook page.
Innocent Nembidzane, a content creator from Elim-Mpheni, produces short fictional or sci-fi reels. He hopes to go viral. He posts 30 to 40 times a day to meet monetisation targets, creates all his own concepts, and uses AI to generate the videos.
A video he posted on 14 November gained 92,500 views, 63 shares and eight comments. He currently has 114,000 followers.
Nembidzane switched to Facebook’s Professional Mode around August/September 2024, and his audience grew rapidly. He says he earns money through in-stream ads, reels, stars, subscriptions and other tools.
He says most viewers know the content is fictional, but some think it is real. He acknowledges that Facebook’s algorithm pushes creators towards dramatic content, but says he focuses on creativity and authenticity.
Unlike some other content producers, his videos have never been reported and he has received no warning from Facebook for transgressing the platform’s rules.
Determining exactly how much content providers can earn is not easy. Facebook’s payment model is opaque, and rates depend on the specific market.
To qualify for Facebook’s Content Monetisation Programme, users must be at least 18 years old and have a personal Facebook account.
Previously, there were other requirements, such as having at least 10,000 followers and a certain number of viewing hours per reel. But much of this changed when Facebook’s Content Monetisation beta kicked off on 31 August.
Now there appear to be fewer barriers to entry, and content creators can monetise not only reels but also stories, long-form videos, photos and even text posts.
Facebook makes its money by placing ads alongside posts or within reels. Content creators get rewarded for views and engagement, whether an ad is shown or not.
Online sources we consulted say Facebook pays approximately $1 (roughly R18) to $1.50 per 1,000 views for reels, though “poorer” areas such as Vhembe will not attract the high ad spenders. Creators receive 55% of the ad revenue, while Facebook keeps 45%.
The local content creators we asked could not provide clarity either. “Earnings depend heavily on engagement. You can receive 1,000 views and earn nothing if the engagement is low. However, if the same 1,000 views generate strong reach and high engagement, your earnings will increase. Because of this, it’s not possible to accurately predict Facebook earnings based solely on view counts,” said Nembidzane.
He added that a post with 1,000 views can generate as little as $0.01 (18c), so the payout is often minimal. He stressed that it is like a job, with daily tasks.
Viewers can send creators “Stars” during live streams or eligible videos, and creators earn $0.01 per Star received. Content creators can also ask their fans to subscribe to their feed. To qualify for subscriptions, creators must have at least 10,000 followers or more than 250 returning viewers.
Unless you are Makhi The Shwapha Queen – who claimed on her social media pages that she earns about R140,000 per month on Facebook – the earnings will not be lucrative.
Most content creators, despite working extremely hard, will have to be satisfied with earning only a few hundred rands a month.
The pressure is always there to increase your following, do more posts, be more controversial – to go viral. The temptation to push the boundaries is constant.
Facebook claims to be serious about enforcing its “Community Standards”, “Partner Monetisation Policies” and “Content Monetisation Policies”.
The Community Standards cover the basics of what is and is not allowed on Facebook and Instagram. These include issues like data privacy, copyright infringement, spam and misinformation. Content providers must ensure that their content is original and not plagiarised.
The company also claims to penalise content providers who post clickbait or merely republish posts from other media, such as broadcasters.
But in Africa, this is seemingly an impossible task because Facebook is not investing in translation technology or moderators who understand the nuances of the languages spoken across the continent.
Dr Mbongeni Jonny Msimanga, a postdoctoral fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, published a paper in September in which he discusses the inability of social media giants to monitor content.
“Big tech platforms … only monitor and police content in eight African languages across a continent of over 1.5 billion people speaking close to 2,000 tongues,” he writes. Currently, checks are only carried out on content in Arabic, Amharic, Swahili, Hausa, Somali, isiZulu, Yoruba and Afrikaans.
Msimanga points out the dangers this holds for society, where hate speech, fake news and harassment can continue unabated. It is also dangerous for freedom of speech, because when content is moderated by people who do not understand the nuances of the language, voices get suppressed.
“At the root of the problem is a lack of investment. Companies have been unwilling to pay for human content moderators fluent in ‘less mainstream’ languages. Training AI models in under-resourced African languages requires extensive data and cultural expertise. But African markets are not seen as profitable enough to warrant such effort,” he writes.
Locally, content creators – especially those doing clickbait – are flourishing. Facebook does not seem to pick up on the content, so the moderation rules do not apply.
Content creators have also become experts at “gaming the system”. To expand your following, you reach “agreements” with other content providers and start “sharing” followers. It is called a follow-to-follow and engagement-time system, where everyone is encouraged to actively follow, like, share and comment on posts.
Closer scrutiny of posts made by some Vhembe content creators shows that the interaction is shallow and predominantly meaningless. But whether it is real interaction or not, the content providers get paid.
Maremeni, for instance, appears to follow a common strategy: she monitors trends and then selects stories from other news media, which she reposts with a caption in Tshivenda. She then adds her own remarks, frequently urging users to pay R32.99 and subscribe to her channel with phrases like “let’s gossip in secret”.
One of her videos reached 5.3-million views and 2,400 comments. It carried a brief caption about a man kissing the cheek of a young girl who was taking a selfie: “His wife is so casual about this red flag 😳 in fact this is a red billboard. What the hell #゚Viral O”
When Maremeni was asked for comment, she refused to interact. “My suggestion to you and your team is that, stop obsessing over me, the world is changing and you better get with the times. Never contact me again,” she texted back.
Millions of South Africans get their daily news from social media platforms. Content creators on these platforms, even if they profit from the work of other journalists, do take news out to a large sector of the community, especially in rural areas.
But serious investigative articles or substantial reports are less likely to attract huge audiences. Instead, it is the scandals, controversy and sensationalism that elicit the clicks and make the money flow in.
This means content creators are continuously pushing the envelope to make their stories more lucrative. The proclaimed success of one spurs on dozens of others who hope to create that viral video that will end their financial distress.
Social media platforms need to be held to account, says Franz Krüger, a seasoned South African journalist and educator known for his extensive work in journalism education and media ethics. Krüger serves as deputy ombud of the Press Council and contributed to reforms in the self-regulation system of the media.
He believes that it is important for media and information literacy to be taught in schools and elsewhere, so that readers can recognise nonsense when they see it.
These powerful platforms are making millions by fuelling the worst in misinformation, he says. “In practice their algorithms should be constructed with a clear bias in favour of factual information, and with a clear public interest approach.”
“The difficulty of course is that they are so powerful that nobody can tell them what to do.”
This story is published in association with the Limpopo Mirror.