Report: Facebook Short Paid Creators by Thousands of Dollars in Ad Revenue

A recent report states that social media giant Facebook failed to pay some creators on the platform accurately, resulting in many losing thousands of dollars.

The Verge reports that many video creators on Facebook have begun reporting drastically reduced earnings in recent months, with many finding themselves up to $4,000 short on their usual monthly payments.

The Verge writes:

Britain Lockhart never knows what he’ll find when he scuba dives for treasure. Neither do his viewers on Facebook who tune in for a surprise reveal. His page, Depths of History, has been steadily growing on the social network since he started posting videos there about two years ago. He now has 70,000 followers on his page, which has started generating thousands of dollars a month in ad revenue.

“I really didn’t think it would be that profitable at all, but Facebook has such a variety of users on their interface that don’t even use YouTube, but they’ll be on Facebook,” he says, adding that he’ll post his YouTube videos on Facebook to make ad revenue on both.

His income varies, although he says he’ll typically make between $2,000 and $3,000 per month through Facebook. But in 2021 so far, that income has unexpectedly dried up. The January payout was only $931, leaving him thousands of dollars short. In February, it was even lower, coming in at just $664. He double-checked his creator backend, and the numbers didn’t make sense there, either. Facebook’s revenue estimation tool projected that he should have received $3,397 for January and $1,747.52 for February. When the checks came in, he ended up more than $4,000 short

Lockhart told the Verge: “It was like a slap in the face. I was looking forward to buying more camera gear to increase my business, buying things that could prolong me working with Facebook and me working with YouTube.”

Lockhart isn’t the only creator that has found their earnings highly reduced. Two other Facebook video creators told the Verge that Facebook shorted them on payments and ignored their requests for help.

The Verge reached out to Facebook which stated that it “resolved a technical issue that prevented a small number of video creators on Facebook from receiving their full in-stream ads payouts.” A Facebook spokesperson added: “We’re notifying these partners that they’ll receive those remaining in-stream payments during the April payout cycle, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

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