PETALING JAYA, July 10 — Malaysian actress Sharifah Sakinah is taking TV networks to task for failing to pay actors for promoting their dramas on social media.

The Girlfriend Aku Dari Neraka star publicly slammed TV stations for purposefully exploiting the online following of professional actors and feeling entitled to free advertising for their shows.

“When an (Instagram influencer) gets to be on TV, they get paid. But when a TV actor has to post a promotion on Instagram, we have to post it for free.

“Both platforms are where we make a living, and obviously TV stations are trying to get freebies by paying actors for their acting services and expecting a free advertisement to a million followers without paying a cent,” she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post.

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Sharifah, who has 2.2 million Instagram followers, called on her fellow actors to discuss if they should start charging fees for giving online shoutouts to dramas and films.

“Especially for those who work on both TV and social media platforms, shouldn’t we start charging for promotions?

“I feel like what we earn is just for our acting skills but not for an Instagram promo as well.

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“When ‘Insta-famous’ people appear on TV, they get paid and it’s not free, so I feel like my Instagram is not ‘free’ either.”

Fellow actress Sharifah Amani applauded her statement on Twitter in a viral tweet that has gotten more than 3,000 retweets and 4,000 likes.

“No more freebies! Enough is enough. Well said, Kinah,” she wrote.

 

Amani also added that many actors who try to negotiate contracts with TV networks to include such fees will often end up being replaced.