TikTok has announced a series of relief packages to assist those fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The relief funds and initiatives will help both individuals and organizations finding it hard to deal with the impact of the pandemic.
The company has pledged $375 million to be disbursed as follows: $250 million in funds, $100 million in ad credits, and $25 million in ad space for public health information.
The $250 million in funding will be split into a couple of various relief funds. As part of the split, there will be the Health Heroes Relief Fund ($150 million), which will provide money for medical staff, supplies and hardship relief for healthcare workers. Also, there will be Community Relief Fund ($40 million) which provides money to organizations helping communities that have been hit hard by the health crisis, TikTok will also match an additional $10 million in donations. Finally, the service has pledged $50 million to support distance learning initiatives.
Furthermore, in the aspect of disbursing direct funds, TikTok is pledging $25 million in ad space to help NGOs, health authorities, and local authorities to deliver public health information.
The short video service has been criticized lately for enabling the spread of coronavirus conspiracy theories on its platform.
Finally, the sum of $100 million will be dedicated to ad credits to help small and medium-sized businesses that are struggling in the wake of the pandemic.
The company will be rolling out the relief programme worldwide in the coming months but added that the launch rests on the counsel it gets around restarting business operations given by health authorities.
