Sources Policy

1. Source types

TT Calculator draws on four source categories across its calculators, guides, and benchmark pages. Three are external: official platform documentation, published benchmark research, and public creator disclosures. The fourth is internal: the site’s own labeled modeling assumptions.

• Official platform documentation: TikTok Creator Portal, TikTok for Business, TikTok Ads Manager, and published policy announcements. These set program terms such as eligibility thresholds and are treated as ground truth.
• Published benchmark research: Reports from Influencer Marketing Hub, Statista, DataReportal, and Social Blade, plus peer-reviewed academic work on creator economics. These anchor the market-rate ranges.
• Public creator disclosures: Aggregated, anonymized earnings ranges shared by creators through surveys and community participation. These widen or sanity-check ranges and never stand alone.
• TT Calculator assumptions: Modeled estimates developed by the specialist team and clearly labeled as estimates, never as confirmed figures. These fill the gaps the three external classes leave open.

Each category carries a different level of authority, which the quality hierarchy below resolves.

2. Source quality hierarchy

When sources conflict, TT Calculator resolves disagreements using this priority order:

1. Official TikTok documentation and policy pages
2. Government and regulatory sources (IRS, FTC)
3. Peer-reviewed or methodologically transparent research
4. Established industry tracking platforms (Social Blade, Statista)
5. Aggregated creator-reported data (minimum sample size: 50 creators)
6. Individual creator reports (used directionally, not as primary evidence)

The hierarchy works the same way at every level: a TikTok eligibility rule beats a creator anecdote, an IRS bracket table beats a blog summary of tax rates, and a Statista dataset beats an unattributed forum figure.

3. How conflicting sources are shown

Conflicting sources display as a range, never as a single averaged number. Averaging two conflicting figures produces a value no source ever published, so the site shows the span and cites both endpoints instead. Three rules govern the handling:

• Program terms: the highest-tier source wins outright, so an official TikTok eligibility rule overrides every creator anecdote and blog summary.
• Market figures: the page publishes the span between credible endpoints as a low-to-high range, with each endpoint attributed to its source.
• Unresolvable conflicts: when no source passes the quality gates, the figure is removed rather than guessed.

Combining many individual creator reports into one assumption band is a separate modeling step, not a conflict resolution. That aggregation process, including how band spreads widen with source uncertainty, is documented in the Methodology.

4. Citation standards

Every citation carries four components in a fixed order: publisher first, then document title with publication date, then access date, then link.

• Source name and publishing organization
• Document title and publication date
• Access date for the cited figure
• Direct link where a public URL exists

All citations appear in the E-E-A-T section at the bottom of each calculator and guide page, so readers verify any number against its origin without leaving the page. A figure without a qualifying citation does not publish; it is either re-sourced or cut.

5. Source evaluation criteria

A source enters evaluation only after passing three minimum quality gates:

• A named publisher: anonymous dashboard screenshots and unattributed forum posts fail this gate.
• A publication date: undated blog posts and evergreen pages without revision history fail this gate.
• Visible methodology: statistics quoted without sample size or collection method fail this gate.

Sources that pass the gates then face a five-point evaluation against the current platform state. A source that fails any point drops to a lower tier or leaves the page entirely.

• Publication date and recency against the current platform state
• Methodology transparency, including sample size and collection method
• Primary versus secondary status, favoring primary sources
• Reproducibility of the underlying numbers
• Conflict of interest or funding bias in the publishing organization

6. Source currency

The creator economy changes rapidly. TT Calculator verifies key data points on this schedule:

• RPM and payout rates: quarterly or when TikTok announces policy changes
• Engagement benchmarks: semi-annually, using fresh sample data
• Tax rates and brackets: annually, aligned with IRS publication updates
• Platform features and policies: within 7 days of announced changes

Each calculator page displays a “Last verified” date indicating when its data was last confirmed accurate. When a benchmark publisher releases a new edition, the old citation swaps out during the next scheduled review rather than lingering beside fresher data.

7. Undisclosed data

TikTok does not publicly disclose exact Creator Fund RPM rates, algorithm weights, or gift revenue-share percentages. When TT Calculator fills an undisclosed value, the team labels it as an estimate and follows four practices:

• Labels estimates and ranges as estimates, never as confirmed figures
• Explains the derivation method in each calculator methodology section
• Publishes a range rather than a single misleading point value
• Updates the estimate when better public data arrives

8. What we do not use

TT Calculator excludes data that readers cannot verify or that carries conflicts of interest. The following five categories never feed a calculator:

• Paywalled or private data not available to the public
• Unverifiable individual creator earnings claims
• Confidential TikTok or ByteDance internal data
• Leaked documents of unknown authenticity
• Advertiser-supplied statistics presented without methodology

The exclusion holds even when excluded data agrees with published sources. A number readers cannot check adds risk without adding evidence.

9. Reference data and methodology

TT Calculator publishes its modeling assumptions and ranges alongside each tool rather than hiding them. The Methodology page explains how assumptions are built, refreshed, and bounded.

Readers who want the underlying figures find them in the reference data hub and in the citations section of each calculator page.

10. Challenging our sources

Readers who find a source outdated, misrepresented, or unreliable contact corrections@ttcalculator.net. The team reviews every challenge against the quality hierarchy and updates content when warranted. Response timelines appear in the Corrections Policy.

Frequently asked questions

Related Resources