TikTok is again under the line of fire, but this time, the creators are showing their disappointment over the funds being distributed by the Creator Fund within a month of its creation.
In July, TikTok had announced that it was launching a Creator Fund worth of $200 million to compensate creators and to show them that they can earn something through their videos on TikTok. The eligibility criteria to become a part of this Creator Fund is simple and quite straight forward. Interested TikTok users must be at least 18 years old, have a minimum of 10,000 followers, and have at least 10,000 video views in the previous one month before applying for the Creator Fund. After getting an incredible response, TikTok and its interim CEO, Vanessa Pappas said that the fund would grow to $1 billion in the US over the next three years, and double on a global scale too.
The creators were quite happy as they thought that it was some kind of a grant program instead of a traditional revenue-sharing scheme. So, one month down, now many creators are unhappy with the measly amount they are making on their videos. Some creators have reported Business Insider that they are making only a few cents over 1000 views on their videos. Also, a few creators have spoken to WIRED and they have expressed their doubts too. They believe that after joining the Creator Fund, their views have decreased, and they think that TikTok is deliberately reducing their viewership to give them less chance of earning more money.
However, the problem is that TikTok did not clearly explain exactly how it calculates payouts and how much would the creators make out of it. This lack of transparency has further led to doubts about TikTok being involved in intentionally limiting the creators’ reach to the maximum audience, and all of this resulted in many creators opting out of the program within one month of its initiation.
Another problem that these creators faced due to lack of clarity from TikTok was that they thought that they have to remain anonymous and keep the details of any reporting metrics TikTok may provide them strictly confidential if they have to remain a part of the Creator Fund. However, Amelia Lukiman, a spokesperson of TikTok has completely denied this and said that the creators are already sharing their feedback and thoughts about the program on the platform, as well as with the press. So, how can they now say that TikTok demanded any kind of anonymity from them? She also said that the company's priority is to optimize the program so that the overall experience for the creators could improve.
Lukiman has also said that the drop in views is just coincidental and TikTok has not done anything like that deliberately. But one influencer with 100,000 followers has reported to WIRED that one of their innocent videos was taken down by TikTok when they were a part of the fund program. When they opted out, the video came back. So, it means that TikTok is doing somethings to control the viewership and their Community Guidelines are also not clear.
It seems that TikTok needs to be more vocal and crystal clear about everything it offers to its community so that misunderstandings do not rise between creators and the company.
Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Read next: 87% TikTokors Say That The Reels Feature Of Instagram Is Basically The Same As The TikTok App
In July, TikTok had announced that it was launching a Creator Fund worth of $200 million to compensate creators and to show them that they can earn something through their videos on TikTok. The eligibility criteria to become a part of this Creator Fund is simple and quite straight forward. Interested TikTok users must be at least 18 years old, have a minimum of 10,000 followers, and have at least 10,000 video views in the previous one month before applying for the Creator Fund. After getting an incredible response, TikTok and its interim CEO, Vanessa Pappas said that the fund would grow to $1 billion in the US over the next three years, and double on a global scale too.
The creators were quite happy as they thought that it was some kind of a grant program instead of a traditional revenue-sharing scheme. So, one month down, now many creators are unhappy with the measly amount they are making on their videos. Some creators have reported Business Insider that they are making only a few cents over 1000 views on their videos. Also, a few creators have spoken to WIRED and they have expressed their doubts too. They believe that after joining the Creator Fund, their views have decreased, and they think that TikTok is deliberately reducing their viewership to give them less chance of earning more money.
However, the problem is that TikTok did not clearly explain exactly how it calculates payouts and how much would the creators make out of it. This lack of transparency has further led to doubts about TikTok being involved in intentionally limiting the creators’ reach to the maximum audience, and all of this resulted in many creators opting out of the program within one month of its initiation.
Another problem that these creators faced due to lack of clarity from TikTok was that they thought that they have to remain anonymous and keep the details of any reporting metrics TikTok may provide them strictly confidential if they have to remain a part of the Creator Fund. However, Amelia Lukiman, a spokesperson of TikTok has completely denied this and said that the creators are already sharing their feedback and thoughts about the program on the platform, as well as with the press. So, how can they now say that TikTok demanded any kind of anonymity from them? She also said that the company's priority is to optimize the program so that the overall experience for the creators could improve.
Lukiman has also said that the drop in views is just coincidental and TikTok has not done anything like that deliberately. But one influencer with 100,000 followers has reported to WIRED that one of their innocent videos was taken down by TikTok when they were a part of the fund program. When they opted out, the video came back. So, it means that TikTok is doing somethings to control the viewership and their Community Guidelines are also not clear.
It seems that TikTok needs to be more vocal and crystal clear about everything it offers to its community so that misunderstandings do not rise between creators and the company.
Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Read next: 87% TikTokors Say That The Reels Feature Of Instagram Is Basically The Same As The TikTok App
