TikTok's flagship monetisation system is quietly reshaping the livelihoods of thousands of creators, and not in the way many were promised.
The platform's Creator Rewards Programme, introduced in 2024 to replace the much-criticised Creator Fund, is now facing growing backlash as creators report sharp and sudden drops in income. Across creator forums, social media threads and industry reporting, users say changes to payout calculations and algorithmic visibility have left earnings unpredictable and, in some cases, negligible.
