“When we launched the TikTok creator fund, we didn’t launch it to help creators monetize,” Kim said. “I mean, that’s what we said everywhere publicly. ‘We’re doing this to help creators monetize.’ That was not why we launched it. We launched it as a reactive measure against other platforms launching their creator funds. We thought to ourselves, what happens if these creators then go monetize or create content on these other platforms? It hurts our metrics, our DAU, our retention. That was the reason why the creator fund was launched.”
According to the outlet, Kim also discussed TikTok’s alleged lack of transparency on whether or not the declared money is in the fund, not to mention if it’s actually being distributed to creators.
