Google has joined Meta in withholding 5 percent of earnings paid to Kenyan content creators, as the State moves to capture revenue from digital platforms that monetise content.
The US tech giant has demanded that YouTube content creators submit their Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) by October 1, warning it will freeze payments to creators who do not comply.
Google joins Instagram and Facebook’s parent firm Meta, which began withholding the 5 percent tax from payments to Kenyan creators in January this year.
Kenya has been tapping its booming digital economy to widen its tax base as it seeks to cut reliance on borrowing. The Income Tax Act requires that digital platforms submit 5 percent on advertising revenue payments to video, blog and podcast creators.
“Each month, Google will withhold a 5 percent Kenya tax on finalised YouTube earnings along with any applicable US taxes. This withholding will first apply to September 2026 earnings paid out in October 2026,” Google said in a notice.
“You must submit your Kenyan personal identification number (PIN) in AdSense for YouTube by October 1, 2026, or your payments may be held… your YouTube earnings will continue to accrue, but payments will stop until a verified PIN is provided.”
In Kenya, Google and Meta are the only tech giants that share part of the revenue they earn from placing ads in creators’ videos.
The companies remit the cash monthly to the creators’ bank accounts, who are then required to account for these deductions when filing their annual tax returns.
YouTube pays Kenyan creators for ads placed in videos on its main feed or the vertical-video tab called Shorts.
For revenue collected through YouTube Premium subscriptions where users watch content without ads, the company pays creators based on their channels’ watch time. YouTube says creators earn more per view from Premium users than non-paying watchers.
Creators are advised to keep their records updated. Doing so ensures they comply with the law. It also guarantees smooth payouts while Kenya strengthens oversight of digital content monetisation.
To be eligible for monetisation, a YouTube account must have 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
Starting February next year, however, creators will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the previous 12 months or 20 million qualified ‘Shorts’ views over 90 days to qualify for monetisation.
Meta, which began monetising content in Kenya in 2024, pays for ads that play before, during, or after Facebook videos and its short-form vertical video tab, Reels.
To qualify, creators must have at least 5,000 followers and reach 60,000 total minutes of view time in two months. Under YouTube and Meta’s revenue-sharing models, both platforms take 45 percent, while 55 percent is paid out to the creators.
Kenya initially proposed a 15 per cent withholding tax on digital content monetisation, but after public pushback, it was slashed to five per cent for resident creators when the final Finance Act 2023 took effect. Non-resident content creators are taxed at 20 percent.
