X is moving to punish creators who repost stolen viral clips and recycled posts to earn money from the platform’s creator revenue-sharing program.
The platform is now reducing payouts for accounts accused of reuploading content from smaller creators, gaming engagement, and collecting monetization from posts they did not originally create.
X Wants Revenue To Favor Original Creators
According to X head of product Nikita Bier, the company has spent the past month identifying large accounts that “programmatically reupload” content from smaller users while avoiding proper credit.
X now says it will redirect impressions and revenue benefits back to the original creator instead of rewarding repost farmers.
Over the past month, we have identified a number of large accounts that have been programmatically reuploading content from smaller accounts to game the revenue share program and circumvent crediting the original author.
— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) May 23, 2026
We are now identifying these posts and allocating the…
The change targets one of X’s most visible problems: large aggregator accounts that quickly copy viral videos, news clips, and trending posts, then use them to generate millions of views.
For original creators, the problem has been simple. Someone else could take their post, upload it again, add a dramatic caption, and earn more money from the stolen version than the creator earned from the original.
Reposts May No Longer Earn The Same Payouts
Bier said X is now detecting reposted content and allocating impressions to the original author. That means copied videos may no longer generate the same monetization benefits for the account that reuploaded them.
The platform is also telling users to use X’s Quote or Share Video features when reacting to someone else’s post. Those tools allow people to add commentary while keeping attribution connected to the original uploader.
That distinction matters. X is not banning commentary, reaction posts, or news discussion. It is trying to stop accounts from downloading someone else’s video, uploading it as their own, and collecting engagement revenue from it.
Some repeat offenders have reportedly seen major payout reductions. Bier said one user’s revenue had already been reduced by 90 percent in a previous cycle after reposting content without proper credit.
Why X Is Cracking Down Now
X’s creator payout system helped fuel this problem.
Because payouts are tied to engagement, accounts had a strong reason to chase viral posts as fast as possible. The fastest route was often not to create something new. It was to grab someone else’s video, rewrite the caption, and push it to a bigger audience.
That created a messy incentive loop. Original creators did the work, but larger aggregator accounts often captured the attention, impressions, and money.
The problem also made X feel more repetitive. Timelines became filled with recycled clips, clickbait headlines, rage-bait posts, AI-generated spam, and accounts pretending to break news they had simply copied from someone else.
What This Means For X Creators
The new policy could help smaller creators if X can correctly identify original posts.
In theory, a user who uploads a video first should receive more of the credit when a larger account copies it. That could make X more appealing to creators who have complained that the platform rewards speed and theft more than originality.
But the system will depend on detection. X will need to know who posted first, whether a repost used proper sharing tools, and whether the second post added enough commentary to qualify as fair reuse inside the platform.
There is also a practical question: what counts as aggregation, and what counts as reporting or commentary?
News accounts, reaction creators, meme pages, and commentary accounts often build posts around material from others. X’s message suggests those users can still participate, but they need to use built-in attribution tools instead of reuploading media directly.
The Bigger Problem Is Incentives
This crackdown is less about stolen clips alone and more about what X chooses to reward.
When platforms pay mostly for views, people naturally optimize for whatever gets views fastest. On X, that has often meant outrage, copied videos, recycled headlines, and low-effort viral bait.
If X wants better content, it has to make original posting more profitable than repost farming. Cutting payouts for repeat offenders is one way to do that.
The move will not end content theft overnight. Viral clips still move quickly across social platforms, and repost accounts are good at finding loopholes. But reducing revenue changes the calculation.
For creators, the message is clear: posting original content should now matter more than being the fastest account to steal it.
via: Digital Trends | Business Insider
