X slashes aggregator payouts to boost original creators

Social MediaX slashes aggregator payouts to boost original creatorsThe social media platform's head of content announced the change to its payout process as it sought to promote "original, high-quality content."Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00The X app is changing its payout structure, the company announced.Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 12, 2026, 11:18 AM EDT / Updated April 12, 2026, 11:32 AM EDTBy Doha Madani and Austin MullenElon Musk’s X platform said it will reduce payouts to aggregation accounts in favor of rewarding original content in an overhaul of how it compensates creators.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Nikita Bier, the platform’s head of content, posted Friday that X was allocating a portion of revenue exclusively to original content creators “for this creator payout cycle,” saying the shift would enrich the app’s timeline.“Reposts & commentary will always be a core pillar of X, but our Revenue Sharing program should incentivize original, high-quality content that brings new value to the Timeline,” Bier wrote. “This means rewarding the effort it takes to produce something, not just the poster who helped it travel furthest.”Aggregation accounts copy and paste content from other creators or companies en masse — often without attribution — to drive engagement. Under X’s revenue-sharing program, the more engagement a monetized account receives, the larger its payout.In a reply posted Saturday, Bier said aggregation accounts saw their payouts cut by 40% in the most recent cycle, with an additional 20% reduction planned for the next one. He said it had become clear that such accounts “crowded out real creators and hurt new author growth.”“X will never infringe on speech or reach—but we will not compensate for manipulation of the program or our users,” Bier wrote.The policy drew criticism from some creators who...