Facebook suddenly remembered that authors are not a free resource
In January, Ukrainian pages with 5–10 thousand subscribers began receiving their first payments from Meta. Small amounts, but the fact itself is important: monetization officially started working.
Why? Because in 2026, no one wants to work 'for reach' anymore. There is YouTube. There is TikTok. There is X. There is LinkedIn. And Facebook has been living on the enthusiasm of authors for years.
Now Meta is launching the Content Monetization Program:
Unified Program
Stars
Subscriptions
Branded Content
And, importantly, it pays not only for video. Photos and text are also part of the game. In other words, Facebook has finally acknowledged: content is not just Reels.
Why does Zuckerberg need this? It's simple.
More content → more time in the feed → more ad placements → more money.
Meta has not become a charitable organization. It simply shares part of its revenue to avoid losing the market.
For marketers, this is a gift.
More inventory → potentially lower CPM.
More behavioral signals → more accurate targeting.
Plus new formats — advertising in photos, long reads, bonus programs.
But there is a nuance.
The platform pays as long as it is profitable for it. The algorithm is not a labor contract. Tomorrow, the rules may change. And income will again become a 'bonus' rather than a base.
So the question is not whether this will work in Ukraine.
The question is whether authors will build a business on someone else's platform as if it were their own asset.
Because Facebook is paying today.
And tomorrow it will simply update the rules of the game.