This is the companion to our report on the creator economy in Asia. The pattern outside Asia is similar in one way and different in another. Paying a creator a small amount has become easy almost everywhere. But in Europe and Africa especially, tax offices have stopped waiting for creators to declare their income and now get the data straight from the platforms.
Every number below links to its source, and the full list is at the bottom. We left out figures we could not confirm on the source page.
The global picture
Goldman Sachs Research estimated in April 2023 that the creator economy could grow from about $250 billion to $480 billion by 2027, with around 50 million creators worldwide. Most of them earn little: only about 4% make more than $100,000 a year, and brand deals bring in about 70% of creator revenue. Direct payments from the audience are the other main stream, and that is the part that depends on cheap, fast payments.
Germany and the EU: the platforms now report to the tax office
Germany has 64.7 million social media identities, 77.1% of the population, according to DataReportal. Germans still like cash more than most Europeans: the Bundesbank found cash was 51% of transactions in 2023, down from 58% in 2021, while mobile payments tripled to 6%. Online, people pay mostly with PayPal, Klarna, Amazon Pay or giropay.
The bigger change for creators is reporting. Under the EU's DAC7 directive, platforms have reported seller income to tax authorities for every year since 2023. Germany's version of the law covers "the provision of personal services" (BZSt). Whether a given creator platform's sales count as personal services is a legal question, so treat it as likely rather than certain that your income is reported.
German tax investigators are using the data. In July 2025, the finance administration of North Rhine-Westphalia said it was analysing 6,000 records from social platforms, estimated about EUR 300 million in tax at stake, and had around 200 criminal cases open (Finanzverwaltung NRW). It said it is not going after small hobby creators.
Advertising rules are tightening too. A European Commission sweep of 576 influencers found that 97% posted commercial content but only 20% consistently labelled it as advertising, and only 36% were registered as traders (European Commission, February 2024).
Brazil: 2 million influencers and Pix for everything
Brazil had 2 million influencers in March 2025, up 67% from 1.2 million a year earlier, according to Influency.me data reported by Meio & Mensagem. 56% of them are women. The audience is huge: 150 million social media identities (DataReportal).
Pix, the central bank's instant payment system, is the reason small payments work in Brazil. It handled almost 80 billion transactions in 2025, and 148 million people sent or received a Pix in December 2025 (Banco Central do Brasil). The median payment from a person to a business was R$25. That is roughly the size of a single paid post.
Brazil's advertising self-regulator CONAR updated its guide for digital influencers in 2026, covering how ads must be identified, the protection of children and teenagers, and the use of AI (Meio & Mensagem).
Mexico and Colombia: instant transfers take over
In Mexico, the central bank's SPEI transfer system carried more than 7.3 billion transfers in 2025, up 36.8%, and 94% of them were small, at or below about MXN 13,200, Banxico's governor told the Senate (Quadratin). Mexico has 99 million social media identities (DataReportal).
Colombia launched Bre-B, its instant payment system, in October 2025. In its first year it registered 116 million keys and 36 million clients (El País Colombia).
Nigeria: a young creator economy, mostly small earners
A government-backed report put Nigeria's creator economy at $31.2 million in 2025. 56% of creators earn under $100 a month and only 3% earn more than $5,000. Instagram brings in 45% of reported earnings, and there are more than 6.3 million Nigerian creators on TikTok (TechCabal on the Nigeria Creator Economy Report 2025).
Instant bank transfers are routine: Nigeria's NIP system handled 11.2 billion transactions in 2024 (Nairametrics). New tax laws that took effect in January 2026 require creators to hold a Tax Identification Number, pay personal income tax and register for VAT where it applies (BusinessDay). The government's Creative Economy Development Fund began lending to creative businesses in 2026 (Federal Ministry of Information).
Kenya: tax taken before the money arrives
Kenya has gone furthest in taxing creators at the source. The Finance Act 2023 created a withholding tax on digital content monetisation: 5% for residents and 20% for non-residents. Meta started deducting it from Kenyan creators' payouts on 1 January 2026 (The Star), and Google followed with YouTube earnings paid from October 2026, which led Kenya's creators association to ask for a suspension (Technext).
M-Pesa makes small payments trivial. Safaricom reported 46.4 billion M-Pesa transactions worth KES 41.7 trillion in its 2026 financial year, and 3.1 million merchants (Techweez). In May 2026, President Ruto said 30% of government advertising would go to creative platforms (KBC).
South Africa: PayShap and a large online audience
South Africa has 29.1 million social media identities (DataReportal). PayShap, the instant payment service backed by the central bank, was carrying about 45 million transactions a month by late 2025, and 80% of them were under R500 (Stitch).
Across Africa, mobile money keeps growing: the GSMA counted more than $2 trillion moving through mobile money worldwide in 2025 and 593 million accounts active in a 30-day period. It also warned that transaction taxes push some users back to cash.
What these markets have in common
- Paying a few dollars is easy. Pix, SPEI, Bre-B, M-Pesa, NIP and PayShap all move small amounts instantly, often without a card.
- Most creators earn small amounts. Goldman's 4% professional share and Nigeria's 56% under $100 a month tell the same story: content is usually extra income.
- Tax offices see more. DAC7 in the EU, withholding at source in Kenya, and new registration rules in Nigeria mean income from an audience is increasingly visible to the authorities. Keep records and declare it.
Selling content on SexySelfies from these countries
SexySelfies is a 21+ platform where members pay per photo or post instead of a monthly subscription. Creators set their own price, keep 80% of each sale, and request a payout through Wise once their balance reaches $50. Before signing up, check that Wise pays out to banks in your country, and how your country taxes income from members: platform reporting rules like DAC7 can apply to platforms based abroad.
Free to join. You must be 21 or older and pass ID verification.
Frequently asked questions
Do platforms report creator income to tax authorities in the EU?
Under DAC7, platforms report seller income for many types of sales and personal services, starting with 2023. Germany received 131,386 records for 2023 and 157,336 for 2024, according to parliamentary figures cited on Wikipedia. Whether a specific platform's creator sales are covered is a legal question.
Which country taxes creator payouts before they are paid?
Kenya. Since 2026, Meta and Google withhold 5% of Kenyan creators' payouts (20% for non-residents) under the Finance Act 2023.
How do people in Brazil usually pay?
Mostly by Pix, the central bank's instant payment system. In 2025 the median payment from a person to a business was R$25.
Sources
- Goldman Sachs Research, The creator economy could approach half-a-trillion dollars by 2027, April 2023
- DataReportal, Digital 2026 reports for Germany, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, November 2025
- Deutsche Bundesbank, Payment behaviour in Germany in 2023, July 2024
- EUR-Lex, Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 (DAC7)
- Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, DAC7 procedure
- Wikipedia (German), Plattformen-Steuertransparenzgesetz, citing Bundestag Drucksache 21/1075
- Finanzverwaltung NRW, press release on influencer tax investigations, July 2025
- European Commission, IP/24/708, influencer sweep, February 2024
- Meio & Mensagem, Brasil já soma 2 milhões de influenciadores, March 2025, and CONAR atualiza guia, May 2026
- Banco Central do Brasil, Relatório de Gestão do Pix 2023-2025
- Quadratin, SPEI transfers grew 36.8% in 2025, May 2026
- El País Colombia, Bre-B first year, October 2026
- TechCabal, Nigeria Creator Economy Report 2025, September 2025
- Nairametrics, NIBSS e-payments 2024, January 2025
- BusinessDay, How FG intends to tax influencers and online sellers, February 2026
- Federal Ministry of Information (Nigeria), Creative Economy Development Fund, May 2025
- The Star (Kenya), Meta's 5% tax explainer, November 2025
- Technext, Kenyan creators want YouTube tax suspended, 2026
- Techweez, Safaricom FY26 results, May 2026
- KBC, Ruto allocates 30% of government ads to creatives, May 2026
- Stitch, The state of PayShap in 2026, July 2026
- GSMA, State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026, March 2026