TikTok is killing its Creator Fund after months of criticism from influencers

• TikTok is discontinuing the Creator Fund.
• Top TikTokers and micro-influencers alike contended that the fund underpaid for video views.

TikTok's Creator Fund will soon cease to exist.

And it appears most creators won't be sad to see it go. The video-sharing platform announced Monday that the fund — through which TikTok promised to pay creators $1 billion — will be discontinued in December.

"Our ultimate goal is to create the best experience possible on TikTok and provide a robust ecosystem of monetization offerings to creators," the company said in a statement.

The change will effect creators in the US, UK, France, and Germany.

As part of the Creator Fund, TikTokers could earn money based on how many views their videos received. But some content creators said the app was underpaying for even the most viral videos.

Last year, top creators Hank Green and MrBeast called out the fund, which launched in 2020, saying it paid just pennies for every 1,000 views on TikTok.

Victoria Paris, a 24-year-old full-time influencer, previously told Insider that she earned just over $40,000 from TikTok's creator fund in 2021. Paris said she relies on brand deals as her main source of income instead her videos alone.

But the tides began to turn when TikTok introduced the Creativity Program, which pays creators more for videos longer than one minute. Paris said she can earn around $10,000 per month from TikTok views as part of the Creativity Program.

Shawn Owens, 27, said the Creator Fund isn't set up to benefit micro-influencers like himself. Despite having 70,000 followers and plenty of viral moments, Owens said he "never made any substantial money from the Creator Fund." He did not provide exact figures for how much he's made from the fund.

"I won't miss the Creator Fund," he told Insider. "In my opinion, it was set up for already established and well-known creators."

Creators who are enrolled in TikTok's creator fund have the option to upgrade to the Creativity Program if they wish to monetize their content, the company told Insider.