(Yicai Global) Aug. 11 -- Popular Chinese short video app TikTok, currently in hot water in the US over alleged national security concerns, has selected 19 US-based content creators as the first batch of users eligible to apply for its USD200 million TikTok Creator Fund.

The TikTok Creator Fund, first announced in July, will “support creators of all sizes and backgrounds through earnings that reward the passion and dedication they put into inspiring, uplifting and entertaining the TikTok community,” said Vanessa Pappas, general manager of TikTok US, in a statement posted on the viral video app’s website yesterday.

The exact amount to be paid to each of the 19 creators was not disclosed. But they must submit their applications to the Creator Fund by mid-August, she said.

Currently standing at USD200 million, the grant will grow to USD1 billion in the US over the next three years and will be more than double that globally, she added.

Facebook launched a copycat short-form video service called Reels earlier this month on its photo and video sharing platform Instagram. The US social networking giant is taking full advantage of the hard times that operator Beijing-based ByteDance Technology has recently fallen under with the Trump administration calling for the sale of TikTok’s US business before Sept. 15 or for it to face a country-wide ban.

Editor: Kim Taylor