X is cracking down on creators who abuse its revenue-sharing program by stealing content or soliciting engagement. The platform now uses an upgraded version of its Grok AI model to detect duplicated content at three times the rate of its previous iteration, according to Nikita Bier, a product executive at X.
How the new policy works
Under the updated rules, any monetized impressions from stolen content — including posts with watermarks, intros, or other edits meant to disguise theft — will be redirected to the original uploader. This applies to both video and viral text posts. Bier noted that one commonly stolen text post is, "Twitter is like the smoking section of the internet," showing that users still refer to the platform by its former name.
Enforcement and penalties
X has already detected 1.5 million stolen posts in its latest cycle, though Bier did not specify the time frame. As a result, over $1 million in creator payouts will be returned to original creators. The platform is also accelerating bot suspensions, identifying and suspending 208 bots per minute as of April. Repeated or intentional attempts to circumvent the new policy — including engagement bait like "I'll follow everyone who replies" — will lead to removal from the creator program after three strikes, with accounts forwarded to the policy team for suspension. Bier has previously criticized top creators like MrBeast for using financial incentives to drive engagement.