What Other Accounts Has X Demonetized?
Earlier this week, Bier said he demonetized an account called “@Rainmaker1973,” which has more than 4 million followers, for reposting thousands of videos lifted from smaller accounts and removing their watermarks over the past six months. “You cannot get more shameless than this. This is your last day in the creator program,” Bier said in a post. The account responded in a post on Friday, calling Bier’s accusations a “lie” and saying small accounts have asked him to repost their videos for visibility. Dom Lucre, an X user whose real name is Dominick McGee, complained on X last month he was demonetized by the platform. Bier, in response, said in a post he was demonetized for reposting AI-generated war videos. As McGee continued to post about his demonetization, Bier said his “crash out has been incredible content.” McGee, who often posts misinformation and conspiracy theories, has more than 1.7 million followers and previously earned about $55,000 a year from X, the New York Times reported last year.
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How Does X’s Monetization Work?
X allows creators who subscribe to its premium membership program to monetize posts, provided they abide by the platform’s content monetization standards, have more than 2,000 followers and have earned more than 5 million impressions across all posts within the preceding 3 months. According to X’s monetization guidelines, posts that promote deceptive or illegal activity, like drugs or weapons, are prohibited from monetization, as are posts considered “engagement bait” or “recycled or unoriginal content.” Other posts that may have monetization restricted include posts about sexual content, violence, strong language or hate speech. In March, in response to a proliferation of AI-generated content about the Iran war, X implemented a new standard prohibiting monetization of AI-generated posts depicting an armed conflict, threatening to suspend creators from the revenue sharing program.
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Key Background
X’s monetization program has previously drawn criticism from users, who have said the financial incentive to post has led to the platform being flooded with “slop,” or low-quality content. Shortly after X introduced its creator revenue sharing program, Mashable reported users had already begun complaining their timelines were flooded with “engagement bait,” saying the platform “rewards those who post rage bait”—or, content designed to foster engagement that “turns anger into dollars as users can’t stop themselves from watching or commenting.” A BBC investigation previously found some users earned thousands of dollars from X for posting “misinformation, AI-generated images and unfounded conspiracy theories.”
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Further Reading
What is rage-baiting and why is it profitable? (BBC)
Elon Musk’s app pays users now. Expect an engagement bait deluge. (Mashable)