After months of criticism from influencers, TikTok has announced that it will be discontinuing its Creator Fund. The fund, through which TikTok promised to pay creators $1 billion, will cease to exist in December. This change is expected to impact creators in the US, UK, France, and Germany.
The Creator Fund has been under fire for underpaying creators for their video views, with top TikTokers and micro-influencers contending that the fund did not compensate them fairly. Content creators such as Hank Green and MrBeast have criticized the fund, stating that it paid just pennies for every 1,000 views on TikTok.
In response to the criticism, TikTok has introduced the Creativity Program, which pays creators more for videos longer than one minute. This program has been welcomed some creators, such as Victoria Paris, who reported earning around $10,000 per month from TikTok views as part of the Creativity Program.
However, not all creators have been satisfied with the Creator Fund. Shawn Owens, a micro-influencer with 70,000 followers, stated that he “never made any substantial money from the Creator Fund” and won’t miss it. According to Owens, the fund was set up for established and well-known creators, not micro-influencers like himself.
Creators who were enrolled in the Creator Fund have been given the option to upgrade to the Creativity Program if they wish to continue monetizing their content. Overall, the discontinuation of the Creator Fund has sparked a mixed reaction among TikTok creators, with some welcoming the change and others expressing concern about their future earnings on the platform.