An unsettling trend of underpayment, algorithm manipulation, and the subtle suppression of content performance has surfaced at Opera News Kenya, where numerous young digital content creators are reportedly facing an exploitative pay structure that has left many feeling disillusioned and financially strained.
Once regarded as a promising platform for digital media that offered fair income opportunities, it is now experiencing significant internal dissent over what insiders describe as a systematic and intentional decline in fair compensation.
Central to these grievances is a sudden and unexplained reduction in payment rates, which has drastically affected writers who previously relied on the platform for a stable income.
Many creators are now struggling to meet their basic financial obligations, as their earnings have plummeted despite their continued dedication to producing quality work.
Furthermore, allegations have emerged that Opera News Kenya has discreetly altered the backend system that monitors article performance, seemingly to obscure actual click counts and minimize payouts. Reports indicate that articles that once garnered over 200,000 views are now inexplicably limited to 30,000 clicks or fewer, exacerbating the frustrations of the content creators.
Some have observed that even when a story gains traction and goes viral, the numbers stagnate or disappear entirely, limiting not only visibility but also earnings.
It is also claimed that the system now deliberately reduces reported clicks by as much as 50%, making it nearly impossible for creators to verify the true impact of their content.
The result is an increasingly demoralized pool of writers, many of whom feel trapped in a platform that continues to profit off their work while systematically devaluing it.
With mounting evidence of concealed metrics, sudden payout downgrades, and the absence of transparent communication, creators are calling for accountability, fairness, and protection from what they see as a growing culture of digital exploitation in Kenya’s online content space.
“Hello Nyakundi. Kindly HIDE ID. Please air this for the sake of hundreds of writers being exploited. There is serious exploitation of young promising content creators and writers working for Opera News Kenya. The company is underpaying creators: without explanation, the company slashed payments to authors from KES 21 per 1,000 clicks to a mere KES 10 per 1,000 clicks – imagine. Creators used to earn as much as 40k+ per month; with the introduction of the new payment system, no writer is making above 20K. They have made sure that every writer gets paid between KES 500 to 15K a month. Most writers are now complaining about an emerging trend where the true clicks that an article garners are hidden from the author by the company, making payment computation difficult. Initially, articles would get as much as 200k+ clicks, but nowadays, the company has corrupted the click algorithm to make sure that no article surpasses 30K clicks. Even if your article performs well, clicks that accumulate past 30K are truncated and you are paid less money. Writers have also discovered that the company is intentionally reducing average clicks garnered by an article by 50%. If your article got 10K clicks, the system shows 5K on the writer interface. Writers are CRYING. HIDE ID please, air this for the sake of hundreds of writers being exploited There is serious exploitation of young promising content creators and writers working for Opera News Kenya. The company is underpaying creators: without explanation, the company slashed payments to authors from KES 21 per 1,000 clicks to a mere KES 10 per 1,000 clicks – imagine. Creators used to earn as much as 40k+ per month; with the introduction of the new payment system, no writer is making above 20K. They have made sure that every writer gets paid between KES 500 to 15K a month. Most writers are now complaining about an emerging trend where the true clicks that an article garners are hidden from the author by the company, making payment computation difficult. Initially, articles would get as much as 200k+ clicks, but nowadays, the company has corrupted the click algorithm to make sure that no article surpasses 30K clicks. Even if your article performs well, clicks that accumulate past 30K are truncated and you are paid less money. Writers have also discovered that the company is intentionally reducing average clicks garnered by an article by 50%. If your article got 10K clicks, the system shows 5K on the writer interface. Writers are CRYING.”
