TikTok has announced that it will be shutting down its $1 billion creator fund on December 16, 2023.

This fund was initially introduced in 2020 with the promise of paying out $1 billion to creators over the course of three years. However, many creators found the payouts to be insufficient for content with millions of views.

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While the company has not confirmed whether it paid out the full $1 billion as originally promised, TikTok did introduce a new monetization method in 2023 called the Creativity Program. This program allowed creators to make longer videos and earn payouts based on viewer and engagement metrics. According to TikTok spokesperson Maria Jung, creators earned 20 times more through the Creativity Program than they did through the original creator fund.

With the closure of the original Creator Program, creators now have the option to switch to the Creativity Program, where they can potentially earn a more substantial income from their content.