Elon Musk has paused a proposed revenue-sharing policy on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter). This change comes after creators on the social media site were unhappy with X’s new policy. The update made it clear that the site would focus more on content relevant to specific regions and less on global discussions, such as American politics. The move came shortly after X’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier, outlined changes that would give greater weight to impressions from a creator’s home region.
The announcement raised concerns among creators, who said a large portion of their audience comes from outside their home countries, with some arguing that the policy overlooked the platform’s global nature. Responding to the backlash, Musk said, “We will pause moving forward with this until further consideration.”
Musk said this while replying to an X user who wrote: “I’m based in France, but 43% of my audience is American. I know many of us are in the same situation. To reach a wider audience, all my posts are in English, the international language. Those who cause trouble may be punished, but with this change, which will significantly reduce our earnings, you’re also penalizing a number of accounts that use the international language without any ill intent.
X tells us that videos and new, high-quality content will be prioritized, but this change will, on the contrary, drastically reduce our earnings. Is there any way to reverse this decision, please?”
The user raised this concern in a reply to Bier’s original post that announced X’s updated payout policy for content creators.
What X product head Nikita Bier said about X’s new content creator revenue sharing policy
In her post announcing the new changes in X’s content creator revenue sharing policy, Bier wrote, “Starting Thursday, we’ll be updating our revenue sharing incentives to better reward the content we want on X:
We will be giving more weight to impressions from your home region—to encourage content that resonates with people in your country, in neighbouring countries and people who speak your language.
While we appreciate everyone’s opinion on American politics, we hope this will disincentivise gaming the attention of US or Japanese accounts and instead, drive diverse conversations on the platform.
We invite creators to start building an audience locally. X will be a much richer community when there’s relevant posts for people in all parts of the world.”
However, the announcement drew criticism from creators, many of whom said a large share of their views comes from outside their home countries. Some also argued that the policy placed too much emphasis on limiting global commentary, particularly around American politics, while overlooking other types of content on the platform.
Another user wrote, “This CAN’T be serious!? You do realize there are global content types beyond politics, right? This is a mistake that will ruin the nature of X. Please revert it before it’s too late.”
The US and Japan account for a large share of users on X. While Bier did not state it directly, several widely followed accounts posting pro-Trump content and commentary on US politics were found to be operating from outside the US after X introduced a transparency feature that showed user locations, according to a previous BBC report.
These accounts, which appeared to be US-based and received millions of likes, views and reposts, were later identified as being run from countries such as India, Kenya and Nigeria.
