X cuts revenue from accounts copying viral videos

X has taken a new step against the viral video copying scheme on the platform. The company identifies large accounts that make money from the revenue sharing system by re-uploading content from small accounts and transfers the impressions on these posts directly to the original content owner. Nikita Bier, product manager of the platform, explained that in the last month, some large accounts were identified that were taking content from smaller accounts and re-uploading them programmatically.

These accounts were earning money from the revenue sharing system by sharing the content without directing it to the original owner. With the new application, Revenue sharing also varies according to this impression distribution. Thus, the account that re-uploads the viral video does not receive all of the earnings, even if the post receives high interaction. Bier suggested using X’s Quote or Share Video features if commenting on other people’s content.

With this method, the platform preserves the link to the original post and does not lose track of the content owner on the views and revenue side. In the classic re-upload method, the video is often disconnected from the original source and spreads through the account that shared it. For a long time, some accounts on the platform have been quickly taking videos of small producers and serving them as their own posts. While this method provided serious interaction and income to accounts with high followers, the actual owner of the video remained in the background in terms of visibility and earnings.

Nikita Bier shared an example showing that this practice is not only a general policy change, but is also used on the enforcement side. It was stated that Mario Nawfal, who has millions of followers on X, re-shared a news video without citing the source. In the Community Note added under the post, it was stated that the video was taken without credit. In his response to Nawfal, Bier said that the videos should not be re-uploaded, but instead use the Quote or Video Resharing features.

In the same statement, it was also stated that Nawfal’s income was reduced by 90 percent in the last payment cycle. Nawfal, on the other hand, claimed that his account used the video resharing option, but that it did not work for long posts. A Community Note was added to this answer and other examples shared in the last hours without giving a source were shown. However, this structure has also become a source of income for accounts that quickly copy viral content.

Since it is often not possible to track the identity of the content owner, especially in video-focused posts, the access advantage of large accounts was also reflected on the revenue side. The platform’s new system centers on impression distribution to change this flow. When a video is re-uploaded from another account, X no longer rates that post solely on the account that shared it. The system identifies the original source of the content and transfers the impressions directly to the producer.

Thus, the area of receiving payments for copied content in the revenue sharing program becomes narrower.