“Last year I promised YouTubers in Malta, in the presence of Google that I will work so that Maltese YouTubers will be paid for the content they generate. One year later we have the result in hand Maltese YouTubers will finally be paid for content they generate and share online. As an MEP I have pushed for this to happen and I am glad we have managed to achieve this important result. I remain committed to work in favour of Maltese artists and content creators.” Zammit Dimech made these remarks after being informed that YouTube will be launching the YouTube Partnership Programme (YPP) this week.

Earlier this month during an interview on TVM Zammit Dimech had explained how he had held further meetings with Google in February and was given assurance that legal challenges were being overcome to launch the monetisation programme within few months.

Zammit Dimech thanked Google for taking the right steps to unlock the YouTube partnership programme after the successful launch of YouTube Malta youtube.com.mt. He said “these are both important steps making local content online more easily accessible for users thus further promoting content of local creators including several artists.”

He said this was also crucial to support young budding artists. Zammit Dimech added that YouTube is a very important platform especially for young artists who want to get out there and share their talent. Thus these steps will continue to support local artists as it will give them a bigger audience and financial support.

Last year Zammit Dimech organised a training session for the Maltese YouTube community and invited YouTube experts to share their expertise with various Maltese and Gozitan content creators to get to know more on how to strengthen their voice online through a number of workshops targeting different levels of expertise.