Clickbait Crackdown: X Cuts Earnings of Aggregator Accounts
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has announced a reduction in earnings for clickbait and news aggregator accounts on its platform. The initiative, taken by the Elon Musk-owned company, aims to curb accounts that dominate timelines by spreading sensationalism or copying others’ content.
X’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier, said on Saturday that under the platform’s policy, earnings for all news aggregator accounts have been reduced to 60 percent in the current payment cycle. This will be further reduced by an additional 20 percent in the next cycle. In particular, accounts that repeatedly use the term “breaking” in every post to mislead readers will face significant cuts in revenue.
Nikita Bier stated, “Hundreds of copied posts and widespread use of clickbait every day are pushing genuine content creators into the background. X will not interfere with anyone’s freedom of speech, but those who manipulate the system or mislead users will no longer be able to earn as they did before.”
Several large accounts have already complained about declining earnings. Dominic McGee (Dom Lucre), who has 1.6 million followers, said his account has been demonetized. However, he has been accused of using the term “breaking” inappropriately nearly 100 times over the past week.
According to analysts, X has recently faced widespread criticism over declining content quality and its reduced ability to drive traffic to external websites. To address these concerns and encourage original content creators, the platform has introduced these stringent measures.
DBTech/BMT/OR
