Associated Content closing the border

Associated Content recently announced that it will no longer be able to pay international authors for the page views our articles, songs, photos and videos earn, unless we qualify as Featured Contributors. Even Featured Contributors will have to earn at least $100 before they see any money, while everyone in the US still enjoys a $1.50 threshold.

Associated Content staff claim this is because of a recent review of their policies against tax laws. But tax laws haven't changed, and neither AdSense nor Bukisa nor PayPerPost has made any similar changes lately.

 Combined with the Featured Local Contributor program, which only people living in the US can qualify for, this suggests to me that AC is deciding they just can't monetize articles by writers outside the US.

Conservative Americans are known for asking their liberal opponents, "Why do you hate America?" Given recent events, AC must answer a slightly different question: "Why do you hate everyone but America?"

As a student, I probably won't have time to research and write an article on the same subject every month (I certainly couldn't do so this past school year), which is among the requirements of a Featured Contributor. I probably also don't have enough expertise on any of the topics to qualify.

But if AC doesn't want my work, I'll gladly take my business elsewhere. I'd previously been giving AC exclusive rights to five articles, but next week I'll repost them here on Life User.

Associated Content closing the border