This week in TikTok news: Kylie Minogue drops new music and joins the platform. Witches (maybe) hex the moon. And the company announces it has created a $200 million creator fund it will use to [checks announcement that provides incredibly limited details] fund creators. “The US fund will start with $200 million to help support ambitious creators who are seeking opportunities to foster a livelihood through their innovative content,” TikTok said in a blog post. “The fund will be distributed over the coming year and is expected to grow over that time.” Ah yes, this answers all my questions. Like how many people will be selected? Will one lucky person get a cool $200 million? Are you going to give 20 million people ten dollars? How much will the fund grow over time? If it grows, does everyone get fifteen dollars?
TikTok provided a few criteria for those considering applying. Creators must be 18 or older and must regularly post new and original content that abides by the platform’s TOS. They must also meet a minimum-follower requirement, though the company offers no indication of what that benchmark will look like. “Through the TikTok Creator Fund, our creators will be able to realize additional earnings that help reward the care and dedication they put into creatively connecting with an audience that’s inspired by their ideas,” the statement said. Who doesn’t want to realize additional earnings?
Monetarily fostering creator talent is, however, a good idea for TikTok. We’ve seen how apps – namely Vine – can go south in a hurry if there isn’t a real, meaningful way for top creators to be making money. Back in 2016, creators said they were heading to larger platforms like Facebook and Instagram (which was then independent of Zuckerberg industries) because that’s where the money was to be had. Fans followed them there and, well, that was that. Of course, if Trump bans TikTok in the United States thats another way things could go south in a hurry.
