Meta Faces Scrutiny Over Facebook Payments To Anti-LGBTQIA+ Accounts

Meta’s Facebook creator payment programme is facing questions after an investigation identified 29 participating accounts with histories of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric receiving payments, raising concerns ahead of the US midterm elections.

The investigation, published by Uncloseted Media in partnership with The 19th and republished by LGBTQ Nation, named Libs of TikTok, Benny Johnson, Candace Owens and Turning Point USA among those accounts. Reporters used records compiled by Dutch technology watchdog What To Fix from Meta’s disclosures. Read the investigation.

Facebook payments facing scrutiny

The findings put the spotlight on how Facebook rewards creators and whether its checks are strong enough to prevent harmful material from becoming a source of income.

Facebook Content Monetization launched in 2024, combining three existing payment schemes into one. It allows creators to earn money from eligible short videos, longer videos, photographs and text posts. Meta said the change would simplify registration and help creators earn across different formats.

Payments depend on how well eligible content performs.

When announcing the programme, Meta said Facebook had paid creators more than $2 billion over the previous year.

It initially planned to invite one million creators already earning money on the platform, with further invitations to follow. Creators would also be able to track earnings and performance through a single set of tools. Meta’s announcement explains the programme.

Critics interviewed for the investigation warned that financial incentives can encourage inflammatory posts.

“Disinformation should not be rewarded financially,” What To Fix policy manager Belén Luna Sanz told Uncloseted Media and The 19th.

Courtney Radsch, director of the Center for Media and Digital Governance at the Open Markets Institute, drew a distinction between differing views and targeted abuse.

“However, there is a difference between rational debate and harassment,” she told the outlets.

Meta did not respond to their requests for comment. The investigation did not provide individual payment totals for the 29 accounts. The original reporting details the findings.

Among the accounts, Libs of TikTok, Benny Johnson, Candace Owens and Turning Point USA had posted a variety of inflammatory and controversial content including content attacking LGBTQ+ people or spreading political misinformation.

Libs of TikTok targeted schools displaying Pride flags and accused LGBTQ+ teachers and event organisers of threatening children.

 

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Benny Johnson shared claims that Democrats would transition children without their parents’ knowledge and linked the party to election fraud.

Candace Owens had blamed gay men for child abuse within the Catholic Church and Turning Point USA was identified as having a history of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. All four were identified as participating in Facebook’s creator payment programme, but the investigation did not establish how much they earned from individual posts.

In a separate investigation published in November 2025, What To Fix reported that dozens of political party pages had been approved to earn money through Facebook, despite rules excluding political parties.

The watchdog said its findings did not show that any particular political viewpoint benefited more than another. It also stressed that the evidence did not establish wrongdoing by the parties themselves.