TikTok LIVE hosts Community Fest 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand. TikTok LIVE convened regional creators, viewers, and partners in Bangkok, Thailand, for the annual Community Fest 2026 under the theme "Be Part of the Win" to drive creator skill development and promote real-time cultural discovery across Southeast Asia and Central Asia. Organized in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and ICONSIAM, the mid-year event marks the third year of the initiative focused on turning livestreaming into a sustainable profession. Driving creator economy growth and Community momentum. The platform recorded substantial user and creator expansion across Southeast Asia and Central Asia during the first half of 2026. Over 95 million unique creators hosted livestreams, marking an increase of more than 50 percent year-on-year, while over 40 million individuals went live for the first time. Platform data indicates that one in three new creators earned their first reward within 30 days of joining, illustrating monetization opportunities across various fields such as music, gaming, street food, and travel. Audience engagement metrics also rose, with nearly half of all regional TikTok users tuning into a livestream daily during the second quarter of 2026. This engagement demonstrates the transition of livestreaming into a primary interactive medium where viewers actively converse with and support hosts. "The defining strength of TikTok LIVE is its capacity to build immediate and authentic human connections. Viewers are no longer passive observers; they become part of the conversation," stated Napattha Chavalitcheewingul, Creator Manager at TikTok LIVE Thailand. "Community has become the most vital asset in the modern creator economy and TikTok LIVE provides creators with the tools and resources to turn real-time engagement into real-world impact, transforming online passion into impactful and meaningful storytelling." Promoting regional cultural discovery through livestreams. Travel and cultural heritage storytelling have emerged as prominent streaming formats across the region. During Community Fest 2026, creators completed a mission-driven cultural tour along Bangkok's historic Song Wat riverside road, broadcasting real-time interactions with local shopkeepers and neighbourhood life to international audiences. Similar heritage partnerships have been established across several countries: * Thailand: TikTok LIVE collaborated with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to showcase Songkran water festival traditions worldwide. * Philippines: The platform joined the Ayala Museum, the Ayala Foundation, UNESCO, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines to present museum collections to digital audiences. * Kazakhstan: Through the "Museums Come Alive" initiative and #MuseumTok, the platform featured the National Museum and the Almaty Museum of Arts. * Indonesia: In collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the National Museum integrated cultural heritage with POP MART to present local culture. * Vietnam: In partnership with the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Conservation Support Fund, the "Beauty Vietnam" campaign explored traditions across Ba Vi, Dak Lak, Dien Bien, and An Giang provinces. "TikTok LIVE is more than just views - it's about co-creation," Chavalitcheewingul noted. "Creators and communities shape experiences together, turning authentic moments into lasting connections. Across borders, neighborhoods and local communities come alive through livestreaming, helping inspire cultural discovery, support local businesses, and connect audiences around the world with authentic local experiences." Expanding creator education and regional talent support. Community Fest 2026 highlighted regional creator journeys, including stage singer Jo (@jo.ppc123) from Malaysia, vocalist Ryssi (@imryssi) from the Philippines, multilingual creator Cesy (@cesynyam) from Indonesia, singer Namnam (@namnamagate) from Vietnam, and acoustic musician Pang (@pangnganthavee) from Thailand. To support continuous skill building, the platform expanded its TikTok LIVE Creator Academy by piloting six global workshops directed by creator-instructors, including six Southeast Asian instructors. The initial regional pilots conducted in Vietnam and Indonesia generated more than 16 million impressions and drew over 190,000 unique viewers. Moving through 2026, the platform plans to further expand Creator Academy programs and lower entry barriers for emerging livestreamers. #CommunityFest2026 #MakeLIVECount #CommunityFestBangkok #TikTokLIVE #CreatorEconomy

TikTok adds legacy account controls for what happens after a user dies. Inside this article. TikTok has added a new Account legacy setting that lets users decide in advance what should happen to their profile after they die, bringing the short-form video platform closer to the digital-afterlife tools already offered by several major technology companies. The new controls give users two main choices: appoint another TikTok user as a legacy contact to manage a memorialized account, or instruct TikTok to permanently delete the account and its data after the platform is notified of the user's death. The change addresses a problem that has become harder for social platforms to ignore. Accounts can contain years of videos, messages, comments, followers and creator activity, yet families have often been left to deal with those profiles only after someone dies. What the new setting does. The new Account legacy section appears inside TikTok's account settings. The interface asks users to plan ahead for how their account will be handled and presents options to add a legacy contact or choose deletion after death. TikTok describes the legacy-contact option in unusually direct language: "Choose someone you trust to manage your account after you pass away." The feature is not the same as handing another person a password or giving them full control of the original account. Instead, the selected contact receives a limited set of management permissions once the account has been memorialized. According to the controls shown in the app, a legacy contact can update the user's bio, accept new friend requests, download a copy of posts, manage privacy settings and request that the account be deleted. Those permissions give families or trusted contacts a way to maintain the profile without turning it into an unrestricted transferable account. TikTok also places clear boundaries around what the contact cannot do. The legacy contact cannot log into the deceased person's account, remove or edit existing posts, read private messages or comments, or remove existing friends. Those restrictions matter because preserving an account is very different from transferring ownership of it. A useful legacy system needs to keep important material accessible without giving another person unrestricted access to private conversations or the ability to rewrite someone's online history. Deletion can be chosen early. The second option is more final. Users can tell TikTok to delete the account after their death rather than preserve it as a memorialized profile. The setting explains that the account and its data will be permanently removed after TikTok is notified of the death, and that the action cannot be reversed. That decision carries particular weight for creators whose TikTok profiles may contain years of original videos that have not been backed up elsewhere. Before these controls appeared, the process was largely reactive. A family member or legal representative could request account removal after a death, generally with proof of their connection to the user and documentation such as a death certificate. The new setting shifts some of that decision-making to the account holder while they are still alive. Notification and verification still matter. Selecting a legacy option does not mean TikTok will automatically know when someone has died. The platform still needs to be informed before the chosen action can be carried out. Creators have more at stake. For an ordinary social account, the issue is largely about privacy, memories and personal data. For a creator, a TikTok profile can also have significant commercial value. A successful account may contain a large catalogue of original videos, a recognizable creator identity, audience history, brand partnerships and years of engagement. Creators may also use TikTok alongside Shop, LIVE, affiliate campaigns and other money-making features. The legacy controls do not turn a TikTok account into inheritable property, nor do they create a clear route for transferring creator revenue, business agreements or commercial access to another person. What they provide is a clearer mechanism for deciding whether the public-facing account should remain managed or eventually disappear. That distinction is important. One family may want to preserve a creator's videos but have no intention of continuing the creator's business. Another user may prefer that the profile and associated data be removed completely. Allowing the account holder to express that preference beforehand removes at least some of the uncertainty. TikTok's scale changes the issue. The update comes as TikTok operates at a scale where digital legacy is no longer an edge case. More than 200 million people across Europe use TikTok each month. Separately, the platform reported 178 million monthly recipients in the European Union in its April 2026 transparency reporting. The figures cover slightly different geographic definitions, but both show the scale at which TikTok now stores personal and creative histories. At that size, deceased and long-term inactive accounts become more than a customer-support issue. They form a growing archive of photographs, videos, conversations, creative work and social history. Earlier research into Facebook illustrated how large that archive could eventually become. Under a scenario in which Facebook continued expanding at the growth rates used in the research, more than 4.9 billion profiles could belong to deceased users by 2100. Even under a no-growth scenario based on 2018 user levels, at least 1.4 billion users were projected to die before the end of the century. Those figures were calculated for Facebook, not TikTok, but the underlying problem applies across large social platforms: digital profiles can remain long after the people who created them are gone. TikTok catches up with rivals. TikTok is not the first technology platform to give users a way to prepare for their digital afterlife. Facebook already allows people to nominate a legacy contact to manage parts of a memorialized profile or choose account deletion after death. A Facebook legacy contact cannot log in as the deceased user or read private messages, reflecting many of the same privacy boundaries now visible in TikTok's approach. Apple offers a Legacy Contact system for certain account data. A nominated contact can request access after a user dies, but must provide an access key and the required proof of death. Google takes a different route through its Inactive Account Manager, which allows users to nominate people who can receive selected account data after a chosen period of inactivity. TikTok's new system follows the same broader principle while keeping the contact's powers narrow. A trusted person can manage limited parts of the public-facing profile and preserve copies of posts, but they cannot simply enter the account as the deceased user. That separation is particularly important for messages. A private conversation belongs to more than one participant, and transferring unrestricted inbox access after death could expose communications that the other people involved never expected someone else to read. A shift in account planning. The new setting may look like a small addition to TikTok's account menu, but it reflects a larger change in how social platforms think about identity. Most networks were originally designed around joining, posting and growing an audience. What happened after a user died was handled later through support requests and documentation submitted by relatives. Legacy controls reverse that process by allowing people to make some of those choices themselves. TikTok's approach is also notable for separating stewardship from identity. A legacy contact can help care for what remains of the profile without gaining the power to impersonate the user, rewrite existing posts or open private conversations. For creators, frequent posters and anyone whose TikTok profile has become a meaningful record of their life, the new setting gives them a reason to think about what should happen to that archive in advance. Digital legacy is gradually becoming another part of account management rather than something platforms deal with only after a family contacts support. As social accounts continue accumulating years of personal history, controls like these are likely to become less unusual and much more expected.

TikTok launches newsletter to share creator insights. Aug 25, 2026 - 07:17 An article from The newsletter, called The Creator Cut, is designed to share insights from livestream creators on how to make an impact with short-form content. This audio is auto-generated. Please let Netzender.com know if you have feedback. TikTok has launched a new Substack-based newsletter that will showcase creator stories and insights to help maximize content impact. Called The Creator Cut, the newsletter will share insights directly from creators, with a specific focus on using TikTok Live to connect with audiences. As per TikTok: "[TikTok Live is] happening in real time. There's no playback, no second take, and no way to know exactly what's going to happen next, which is part of the magic. But it also means you need to know when to tune in, and who to tune into. That's why we're launching The Creator's Cut: A Substack by TikTok, written by the creators who make every LIVE count." TikTok said the newsletter will provide a platform for creators to share stories, tips and tricks focused on how to maximize TikTok presence and connect with a live audience. "There are millions of creators on our platform," TikTok said. "In 2025, more than 250 million creators went live on TikTok globally, with more than 150 million creators earning rewards for their talent and authentic expression." Despite being known for short-form video, livestreaming has been a big focus for TikTok as the platform works to create a more engaging and habitual user experience. Which also includes shopping. In China, the local version of the app, Douyin, has seen big success in driving shopping behaviors through livestreams, which TikTok has sought to replicate, with varying levels of success. According to Digital in Asia, Douyin is now the largest live commerce platform in China, after generating almost $500 billion in GMV in 2024. By comparison, TikTok reportedly generated $64 billion in GMV in 2025, according to reporting from Content Grip. The majority of those sales came from Southeast Asia, with U.S. users contributing an estimated $15.1 billion. Given the variance, it makes sense that TikTok would see this as a significant opportunity. But in order to make the most of this potential, the platform needs more people tuning into livestreams, which is part of the focus of this new push to promote the value of livestreaming as an audience connection tool. This may be of value to marketers looking to make best use of the app. As such, it could be worth signing up to TikTok's new newsletter to glean more insight into how influencers are using the app to drive engagement and boost products.