TikTok is closing its $2 billion Creator Fund, a 2020 initiative aimed at helping pay eligible users to create content on the app, a spokesperson for the platform said on Monday. Admitted.
According to TikTok's July 2020 news release, the fund will “support aspiring creators seeking opportunities to earn a living through innovative content” by providing funding to be distributed through the fund over three years. It is said that the purpose is to The funding pool was distributed based on creators' share of views across the platform.
However, after the fund's launch, many creators expressed concern that it was becoming difficult to monetize on TikTok. Hank Green, an early YouTube star and considered an authority on internet culture, was among those who publicly expressed concern last year that the fund was outdated. He argued that TikTok's monetization tools work in favor of the platform's bottom line, rather than in favor of creators.
Other creators quickly echoed Green's plea, sharing the meager income they earned from the platform despite the huge viewership numbers. Green, who has 8 million followers on TikTok, said at the time that he was earning about 2.5 cents per 1,000 views.
According to The Verge and Fortune, the fund will be phased out on December 16th in the US, UK, France and Germany. A TikTok spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that the fund will be closed, but did not provide an end date or further details.
“The Creativity Program was developed based on learnings and feedback from previous Creators Funds,” a spokesperson said in an email. “As we continue to develop new ways to reward creators and enrich the TikTok experience, we value feedback and direct insights from our community to inform our decisions.”
The news comes just months after TikTok announced a creativity program that sought to address some creators' initial complaints about the fund.
TikTok said in a February blog post about its creativity program that creators “can earn up to 20 times the amount previously offered by the Creator Fund.” Videos to be eligible for the program must be longer than one minute, have at least 1,000 views, and must specifically follow the platform's community guidelines.
Although it appears to be still in beta, to apply to the Creativity Fund, creators must live in the US, be at least 18 years old, and have at least 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 video views in the past 30 days. It's not immediately clear whether TikTok plans to include global creators in another monetization program.
