X is looking to develop an improved incentive structure for its creator revenue share program. The move would better reward original content creators in the app and reduce opportunities for people to abuse the system by focusing purely on finding ways to game the interactions process.
On Friday, X’s Head of Product Nikita Bier announced that changes are coming to the creator revenue share scheme, which will ideally route more money to original content creators in the app.
As explained by Bier: “For this creator payout cycle, we’re experimenting with new tools to identify original authors of content and allocating a portion of revenue to them.”
Bier said X has seen incredible work from original creators, and while reposts and commentary will always be a core pillar of X engagement, the revenue share program should be aligned with funding these creators, as opposed to aggregator accounts.
“This means rewarding the effort it takes to produce something, not just the poster who helped it travel furthest,” Bier said. “This is how we build a richer Timeline and how X continues to be the most valuable platform in the world.”
Bier added that “all aggregators had their payouts reduced to 60% this cycle,” and said X will further reduce aggregator payouts by another 20% in the next cycle.
Bier added that it has become abundantly clear that flooding the timeline with stolen reposts and clickbait has crowded out real creators and new author growth, which is why X is not taking drastic action to disincentivize re-posting activity.
“The next step is to assign a permanent deduction to habitual bait posters who use ‘BREAKING’ on every post,” Bier explained. “X will never infringe on speech or reach – but we will not compensate for manipulation of the program or our users.”
X’s creator revenue share payouts are based on cumulative impressions from verified users, which essentially means that creators are incentivized to create content that will drive more response with paying users in the app. The more engagement creators can get from X Premium subscribers, the more money they make. That said, though X doesn’t currently have any mechanism to delineate the specific types of engagement, meaning that any interactions, from comments to likes, will boost creator payouts.
That means that re-posts, for example, can end up earning a lot of money, potentially more than thoughtful, original posts. Which is what X is now exploring new approaches to combat.
Instagram announced similar measures to combat aggregator reposts in 2024 by removing reposts from its Explore page and ensuring, where possible, that original posts were given more presence.
That’s had a positive impact on engagement with original content creators. In March, Meta said that user time spent watching original Reels “approximately doubled in the second half of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024.”
X’s approach is more directly aligned with financial incentives, and is less about algorithmic changes to penalize the reach of aggregator profiles. But the impetus is the same, and the flow on impact could see aggregators spending less time in the app, thereby reducing the presence of reposts.
Though it could also impact overall X engagement. With fewer posts to show people, that means content will get less exposure overall, which could reduce user interest. Still, original creators should benefit from the update, so even if aggregators reduce their posting frequency, or leave the app entirely and reduce overall sharing of content, actual creators will likely see an uptick in attention, and thus have more incentive to keep posting.
It’s another measure to improve the quality of content on X, with Bier undertaking various experiments to combat spam and junk posting in the app, with a view to refining the content stream.
Earlier in the year, X also moved to restrict crypto projects from spamming promotions in the stream. The app also implemented more measures to demonetize AI deepfakes, which are designed purely to generate engagement.
Bier also proposed a new approach to remove the incentive for creators to post about political topics outside of their home nation, but X’s owner, Elon Musk, nixed the plan after several of his favorite users complained about the update.
But Bier’s approach, at least in theory, makes sense, because it reduces the value of posting false or misleading information and supports the top creators who post original content.
The actual mechanisms for doing this are complex, but at least Bier is trying to address these commonly cited concerns.
