TikTok—TikTok Creator Fund paid creators poverty-level rates of $0.02-$0.04 per 1,000 views before shutdown
TikTok's original Creator Fund, launched in 2020 with $200M projected to reach $1B over three years, was widely criticized for extremely low payouts of $0.02-$0.04 per 1,000 views ($20-$40 per million views). Creator Hank Green reported earning 2.5 cents per 1,000 views. Creator SuperSaf earned ~$137 in 10 months for 25 million views. The fund was shut down on December 16, 2023, replaced by the Creator Rewards Program with reportedly higher rates of $0.40-$1.00 per 1,000 views, though creators have since reported sharp drops in income under the new program.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creator Compensation | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.858 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
TikTok shut down Creator Fund paying $0.02-$0.04 per 1,000 views, replaced with Creativity Program
TechCrunch reported TikTok shut down its Creator Fund on December 16, 2023. The fund had been widely criticized for poverty-level payouts averaging $20-$40 per million views. Its replacement, the Creativity Program (later renamed Creator Rewards Program), promised 20x higher payouts but has since drawn complaints about unpredictable earnings.