--- title: TikTok Is Shutting Down its $2 Billion Creator Fund description: TikTok's controversial creator fund allowed short-form content creators to earn money for their videos. The program will end in December. canonical: https://time.com/6332184/tiktok-creator-fund-ending/ author: Moises Mendez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-11-06T22:30:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:46.648Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: TikTok Is Shutting Down its $2 Billion Creator Fund og:description: TikTok's controversial creator fund allowed short-form content creators to earn money for their videos og:url: https://time.com/6332184/tiktok-creator-fund-ending/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17b62ea988ebb115/698a3b2fcabb1d1a8be51396/TikTok-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 8640 og:image:height: 4860 og:image:alt: TikTok og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TikTok Is Shutting Down its $2 Billion Creator Fund twitter:description: TikTok's controversial creator fund allowed short-form content creators to earn money for their videos twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17b62ea988ebb115/698a3b2fcabb1d1a8be51396/TikTok-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # TikTok Is Shutting Down Its $2 Billion Creator Fund > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: How Viral Fame Is Sitting With Brian Jordan Alvarez [Watch (HLS stream): How Viral Fame Is Sitting With Brian Jordan Alvarez](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/I8zehViS.m3u8) (3:44)  _Published 2023-10-05. Sitting truly is a wonderful thing to do, and now it has an indelible anthem in the form of the improvisational song that launched Alvarez into the TikTok stratosphere._  by [Moises Mendez](https://time.com/author/moises-mendez-ii/)  ## Moises Mendez Nov 6, 2023 10:30 PM UTC  FILE - The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. TikTok was dismissive Wednesday, March 15, of reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app, saying such a move wouldn't help protect national security. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File) FILE - The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. TikTok was dismissive Wednesday, March 15, of reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app, saying such a move wouldn't help protect national security. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File) Matt Slocum—AP  by [Moises Mendez](https://time.com/author/moises-mendez-ii/)  ## Moises Mendez Nov 6, 2023 10:30 PM UTC TikTok is shutting its creator fund on Dec. 16\. The fund, announced in 2020 and currently valued at $2 billion, was a way for short-form content creators to get paid for their content. On Monday, [_Fortune_ reported](https://fortune.com/2023/11/06/tiktok-creator-fund-ending-viral-video-compensation-program/?showAdminBar=true) that the company has decided to forgo the program altogether. In 2020, TikTok announced it would pay out [$1 billion from the creator fund](https://time.com/6265524/tiktok-influencers-congress-ban-interview/) over the course of three years to creators for videos they posted that would receive hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views. The aim of the fund afforded micro-influencers with at least 10,000 followers who had accumulated at least 100,000 views in the last 30 days to make money from TikTok. It’s not clear if TikTok paid the entire amount to the creators who qualified. Many creators have [criticized TikTok and the fund](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-tiktokers-earn-from-creator-fund-daily-rates-2022-8?r=tiktok-creators-lp), saying it was not that lucrative for them. Some [told _Fortune_](https://fortune.com/2023/01/23/creators-report-extremely-low-earnings-from-tiktoks-ad-revenue-sharing-initiative/?utm%5Fsource=pocket%5Fsaves) they earned “mere pennies” for their viral videos. ### More From TIME In a statement to TIME, a spokesperson for TikTok said the company is committed to creating “the best experience possible on TikTok and provide a robust ecosystem of monetization offerings to creators.” The spokesperson continued, saying, “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.” The creator fund also sparked [backlash after a _Forbes_ report ](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2023/05/30/tiktok-creators-data-security-china/?sh=f17d1ed70488)showed that the company was storing creators’ data on servers in China when they promised to do so in the United States. But it’s not an end to avenues for creators looking to make money on the app. [According to _Fortune_](https://fortune.com/2023/07/05/tiktok-paying-creators-creativity-program-beta-details/), TikTok rolled out a “Creativity Program” earlier this year, which requires content creators to make videos that are longer than a minute to earn money. The long-form program seems to be more promising, with creators telling _Fortune_ they have been making “thousands of dollars.” ## Transcript I sadly don't hate anything about going viral. I wish I did. I like it with an unbridled totality to make a song Alone in my room. That then somebody makes an amazing track for us when he was a cover for in another country and that goes viral. It's like it really is a connective moment and I think people are often short of questioning, whether the Internet connects us or disconnect this more. And in these moments at least it feels like the internet is connecting us in question. I'm always done this thing where characters kind of come out of me and I think they are just a blend of a lot of people. I've met my body for the process is it? And then this character emergency Does t.j. Maxx who sings the song? He has a wife whose very domineering. He like a really sweet guy. He loves deals. His first videos about getting deals on underwear at t.j. Maxx, if you like, and this is the first time I'm finding this place available in my city is an activist songs about strong Concepts. You got a song about popcorn, he's got a song about splashing. He loves her splashing in the water and we got to talk about laser tag or saying, actually, I was sitting, I mean, what can I say? I was sitting, I was sitting in my apartment. I was in a chair from CB2. That's one of these really structured chairs. I think I must have been like, sitting sitting is the opposite of standing. And I knew there was something to that. And then I am probably the whole song which is what I always do, right? And I've got some ideas going into it, and I posted it and people immediately started responding. Recently taken the Music World by storm with people started sort of producing tracks with it. The quality was so high that I was like this this is another level of song. This is a real song, these people understand music, so deeply Beauty. Beautiful, beautiful. Ultimately would happen with this guy. Josh Mac, who's from New Zealand released this quality level version of it, that has really become the main. The main version, I will say, I had a very fun meeting with Atlantic Records. And from what I understand, we are going to work together and make this song a huge Global head. What I've learned is you just have no idea. Really? What will go viral when something goes viral with lightning in a bottle and when I go back and look at something that's going viral, I always go. Oh yeah, I see why it's this one and not these 50 other ones but you don't know it when you posted it, everybody is worried and asking a question. DJ Mack is feeling amazing. He's grateful to his wife and his son. He's trying to spend a lot of time with his family. Even through, you know, encountering worldwide pop, start on them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6332184/tiktok-creator-fund-ending/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6332184/tiktok-creator-fund-ending/"},"headline":"TikTok Is Shutting Down Its $2 Billion Creator Fund","datePublished":"2023-11-06T22:30:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:46.648Z","description":"TikTok's controversial creator fund allowed short-form content creators to earn money for their videos. 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