Following last month’s news of TikTok’s $10 million donation to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Solidarity Response Fund, the ByteDance-owned video sharing platform has massively stepped up its support for COVID-19 relief efforts – announcing today that it is committing a total of $375m across various initiatives.
Announcing the support via a blog post today (April 9), President Alex Zhu writes that the company is donating $250m to support front line medical workers, educators, and local communities deeply affected by the global crisis.
In addition, TikTok has further committed $25m in ads to help trusted organizations deliver crucial public health information and $100m in ad credits as businesses look to rebuild.
Among the efforts TikTok will be supporting with cash contributions are the TikTok Health Heroes Relief Fund, through which the platform will make a provision of $150m in funds toward medical staffing, supplies, and hardship relief for health care workers.
These distributions will be focused on local organizations to support local health workers. For example, TikTok is partnering with the CDC Foundation to donate $15m toward supporting surge staffing for local response efforts through state and local health departments.
The TikTok Community Relief Fund will see the platform allocate $40m in cash to local organizations that serve groups representative of TikTok’s user communities, including musicians, artists, nurses, educators, and families and will be further matching $10m in donations from its community to support the community.
Through this fund, TikTok is supporting programs like After-School All-Stars, having already donated $3m to provide food for families who rely upon school lunch programs affected by school closures across the US, and $2m to MusiCares to support artists, songwriters, and music professionals whose livelihoods have been severely impacted as a result of cancelled performance and gig work.
The TikTok Creative Learning Fund will see $50m in grants paid to educators, professional experts, and nonprofits.
In addition, TikTok says that is committed to helping small and medium-sized businesses weather this crisis, and will be providing $100m in ad credits to help companies get back on their feet once economies are able to restart normal activity.
TikTok will also be providing $25m in “prominent in-feed ad space for NGOs, trusted health sources, and local authorities to share important messages with millions of people and meaningfully engage the TikTok community”.
“We understand that these are challenging times for everyone. Alongside businesses, governments, NGOs, and ordinary people across the globe stepping up in this critical moment, we are committed to offering the very best that we can to help out humanity.”
Alex Zhu, TikTok
Alex Zhu, President, TikTok, said: “TikTok was created to bring joy and inspiration to our community. That idea has come to life through the playfulness of our creators who’ve brought dance challenges, funny performances, creative memes, and delightfully unique moments. It’s been largely about having fun.
“COVID-19 is giving all of us a new perspective, and in the face of this unprecedented crisis, we are collectively seeking moments of joy and inspiration. Sometimes that means dancing and having fun where we can. Sometimes that means experiencing the comfort and warmth that comes through simple human connection in the face of adversity. The TikTok community is uplifting one another, caring for one another, and lending a hand to one another. This may be a serious time, but on TikTok it can still be joyful – and deeply inspiring.
“We are committed to playing our part in that global outpouring of mutual support and giving. We want to magnify all we are seeing across our community and translate it into concrete relief for those most affected by this crisis.”
Added Zhu: “Looking ahead, TikTok will be actively seeking more ways to contribute, including identifying the most effective ways to allocate these remaining funds to support ongoing relief needs.
“We understand that these are challenging times for everyone. Alongside businesses, governments, NGOs, and ordinary people across the globe stepping up in this critical moment, we are committed to offering the very best that we can to help out humanity.
“Together, we will persevere through this time of crisis and emerge a better community and part of a world that we fervently hope will be more united in common purpose than it was before.”
We’re thankful for all of the artists and entertainers who rely on TikTok to connect with their fans, and like their fans, we can’t wait until we can see them not from a social distance but live on stage again.”
Corey Sheridan, TikTok
Corey Sheridan, Head of Music Partnerships and Content Operations, TikTok US, added: “Supporting artists and helping the community fight COVID-19 has been a key focus for us.
“We’ve made donations to charitable organizations that are near and dear to the hearts of the TikTok community and we’ve helped celebrities use the platform to elevate their voices for good.
“Over the past few weeks, artists have also been using their songs to help educate the community on the steps we all need to take to combat COVID-19.
“We’re thrilled to be able to support the work of MusiCares through today’s donation. We’re thankful for all of the artists and entertainers who rely on TikTok to connect with their fans, and like their fans, we can’t wait until we can see them not from a social distance but live on stage again. But until then, we’re so very happy to connect you with them in your home.”Music Business Worldwide
