X Cracks Down On Stolen Content—Demonetizes Major Account For Gaming Monetization System

BreakingBusinessX Cracks Down On Stolen Content—Demonetizes Major Account For Gaming Monetization SystemByConor Murray,Forbes Staff. Murray is a Forbes news reporter covering entertainment trends.Follow AuthorMay 29, 2026, 11:43am EDTToplineX’s head of product said Friday it demonetized an account with nearly 2 million followers for lifting a video of the Blue Origin rocket crash from a smaller creator and putting its own watermark on it, part of a recent crackdown on widely followed accounts gaming the platform’s monetization system by flooding the timeline with unoriginal content.X has demonetized some major accounts for lifting content from smaller accounts. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)NurPhoto via Getty ImagesKey FactsNikita Bier, X’s head of product, said Friday X demonetized an account known as “Disclose.tv,” which has nearly 2 million followers, for posting a video captured by Spaceflight Now photographer Adam Bernstein of Blue Origin’s rocket crash and removing his watermark.Disclose.tv, which regularly posts news clips featuring its own watermark, says on its website it is a Germany-based “aggregator of breaking news” that uses “videos from popular sources,” though it has been described by Politifact as a “fake news” outlet.Bier said in a post on X last week the platform has identified “large accounts that have been programmatically reuploading content from smaller accounts to game the revenue share program,” saying impressions earned by these posts will be redirected to the original creators.X’s monetization system, open to users who have paid subscriptions to the platform, rewards users who have large followings and post widely consumed content.Earlier this week, Bier said small creators on X are harmed by accounts with “4 million followers downloading-and-reuploading 600 videos per day,” vowing to “kill them.”Bier, in a post last month, said X reduced payouts for creators that just aggregate other posts to 60%, vowing to reduce paym...