TikTok Is Shutting Down Its Creator Fund

TikTok will discontinue its Creator Fund on December 16, with creators in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany will be shifted over to TikTok’s Creativity Program on December 16.

What's going on? The Creator Fund was announced in 2020 and is currently valued at $2 billion. TikTok announced in 2020 that it would pay $1 billion from the fund over the course of three years to creators who qualify, which included those with at least 10,000 followers who had accumulated at least 100,000 views in the last 30 days. It's unclear whether TikTok paid out the full $1 billion, and some TikTok users weren't too thrilled with the Creator Fund in the first place, with some saying they received pennies in payments for viral videos.

What's next? Creators will still be able to make that sweet coin on TikTok in the future, as the app launched its Creativity Program earlier this year. The program requires users to make videos longer than one minute to earn from it, good news for vlog-style creators but perhaps not ideal for seconds-long viral videos. 

What they're saying: In statement to TIME, a TikTok spokesperson said that the company is committed to creating "the best experience possible on TikTok and provide a robust ecosystem of monetization offerings to creators."

They added, "Part of our efforts and ongoing commitment to provide requires us to evolve products and apply resources elsewhere to support creators best and explore new offerings."