India signals revenue-sharing push for creators

India’s government has signalled that social media platforms may be required to share revenue with creators whose content drives engagement online.

Information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said platforms should compensate creators, warning that legal measures could be considered if companies fail to act voluntarily.

Speaking at the Digital News Publishers Association Conclave, Vaishnaw argued that platforms profit from content created by others and should distribute that value more fairly.

“Platforms must share revenue in a fair way with the people who are creating the content, whether it is news persons, conventional media, creators sitting in far-flung areas, influencers, the professors and researchers who are disseminating their work using the platforms,” he said.

He added that while voluntary action from platforms would be preferable, governments could explore legal mechanisms if necessary.

The comments place India within a growing global debate about platform compensation and suggest the country could eventually go further than Australia and Canada, which have introduced laws requiring technology giants to pay news publishers for content that appears on their platforms.

Within India’s digital ecosystem, the number of creators is expanding rapidly, with millions of influencers producing content across platforms and relying on them for income and audience reach.

Speaking to The Daily Influence, Piyush Singh, founder of growth and performance marketing company BeyondNull, said millions of creators still struggle to monetise their work consistently despite contributing significant value to platforms.

“A structured revenue-sharing model could help bridge that gap by aligning the interests of platforms and creators more closely,” he said.

He noted, however, that such changes would likely require adjustments to how advertising revenue is distributed and greater transparency around how creator value is calculated.

“Any revenue-sharing framework will need clear metrics around how value is calculated – whether through engagement, reach, ad impressions or other factors – to ensure fairness across different types of creators,” Singh said.

India has been investing significantly in its creator economy and last month announced plans to establish content creator laboratories in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges.

The initiative forms part of the government’s support for India’s “Orange Economy” sectors driven by creativity, culture and media, as part of a wider effort to position content creation as a viable career path for young people.

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