X says it’s reducing payments to clickbait accounts

San Francisco: X is reducing payments to accounts that flood timelines with clickbait posts and fast news aggregation. According to Nikita Bier, who leads X’s products, all news aggregators will see their payments drop by 60% this time and another 20% next time. X also plans to reduce payments to users who habitually post “BREAKING” on every post.

“It became clear that flooding the timeline with 100 stolen reposts and clickbait daily crowded out real creators,” Bier explained. He said X will never limit free speech, but will not pay for manipulation of either the system or its users. This change follows complaints from some conservative accounts who recently received emails saying their accounts were demonetized.

Dominick McGee, who posts as Dom Lucre with 1.6 million followers, was among those affected. He had previously made $55,000 yearly from X. Bier said X listens to community feedback, though some creators feel they were caught unfairly in the new rules. The changes come as X faces ongoing debate about content quality and traffic to outside websites.