X is changing the way it pays creators on the platform. The company is ending its existing Creator Revenue Sharing program and replacing it with a new system called Original Content Rewards.
The change means creators who make money from X will need to pay much more attention to the originality of what they post. X says the old system had reached a point where its incentives were “misaligned”, meaning some creators were finding ways to make money from content that did not add much new value to the platform.
The new program is designed to reward people who create original posts, report news, share their own photos and videos, make graphics and memes, or add meaningful ideas and commentary to material from other people. For creators who depend on X for income, this is an important change. Here is everything you need to know about X’s new creator payment system.
What Is Changing on X?
X is shutting down its existing Revenue Sharing program and replacing it with Original Content Rewards.
The company has stopped accepting new participants into the old program. Creators who are already part of the Revenue Sharing program can continue earning money until September 7, 2026. Starting September 8, eligible creators will be able to apply for the new Original Content Rewards program.
This does not mean X is ending creator payments. Instead, the company is changing what it wants to reward.
The main idea behind the new system is simple, X wants creators to bring something new to the platform instead of making money by copying content that already exists elsewhere.
Why Is X Changing Its Creator Payment System?
X has been trying to fix problems with its creator payment system for months.
The old Revenue Sharing program was designed to give creators a share of revenue based on engagement their posts received. This helped encourage people to post frequently and build audiences on X, but it also created an incentive for some accounts to chase views and engagement at almost any cost. X’s earlier rules were already designed around engagement, with eligibility based partly on follower and impression numbers.
That created a problem.
Some accounts could earn attention by copying viral posts, reposting videos from other platforms, sharing clickbait or repeatedly posting content designed mainly to attract reactions.
X has been trying to address this. In July, the company said it had detected about 1.5 million stolen posts in its latest enforcement cycle and that more than $1 million in creator payouts would be redirected to the original creators. It also said its newer Grok model could detect duplicated content at three times the rate of the previous version.
The new Original Content Rewards program takes this idea much further.
What Is X Original Content Rewards?
Original Content Rewards is X’s new creator monetization program.
Instead of focusing mainly on how much engagement a creator can generate, the program places a much stronger focus on whether the creator is actually producing something original.
X says original content can include original reporting and analysis, photos and videos made by the creator, as well as memes and graphics that the creator designed themselves. Commentary can also qualify, but creators who regularly use other people’s material must add meaningful original value.
In simple terms, X wants creators to do more than simply find something popular and post it again.
If you see a viral video and upload the exact same video to your own account, that is not the kind of activity X wants to reward.
But if you use that video as part of a meaningful analysis, add useful information or provide genuine commentary, your post may qualify as original content.
What Content Will Not Qualify?
X has also given examples of content that will not be considered original.
A post that is simply copied from another X account will not qualify. Downloading someone else’s video and uploading it to your own account will also not qualify.
Reposting someone else’s content without meaningful transformation is another example.
This is important because many social media accounts have built large audiences by collecting and reposting viral content. Under the new system, simply being good at finding popular content may no longer be enough to earn money from X.
Creators will have to contribute something of their own.
What Does X Mean by “Meaningful Original Value”?
This could become one of the most important parts of the new program.
X is not saying creators can never use material made by other people. In many cases, commentary, analysis and reporting naturally involve using information or media from other sources.
The difference is whether the creator actually adds something useful.
For example, reposting a news video with no explanation would likely be very different from sharing the video while explaining what happened, adding new facts and giving useful context.
Similarly, copying another person’s opinion and posting it as your own is different from discussing the topic and giving your own detailed view.
The exact line will depend on how X applies its rules, and the company says it will continue refining the program over time.
Who Can Join the New Program?
The basic requirements remain familiar to existing X creators.
Creators will still need to subscribe to one of X’s Premium tiers to qualify. They will also need at least 500 verified followers and 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users within a 90 day period.
Meeting these numbers does not automatically mean a creator will be accepted.
Creators will still need to follow X’s rules and meet the requirements of the Original Content Rewards program.
This means that growing an audience is still important, but audience size alone will not be enough.
What Happens to Existing Creators?
Creators who are already earning money through X’s old Revenue Sharing program do not lose their earnings immediately.
X says existing participants can continue earning through September 7.
After that, the old program will be wound down and creators will need to apply for Original Content Rewards if they want to continue participating in X’s new monetization system.
This gives existing creators some time to understand the new rules and adjust the way they create content.
X Has Been Trying to Fix Creator Monetization for Months
The new program did not come out of nowhere.
X has already made several changes to its creator payment system this year.
In April, the company said it was reducing payments to accounts that mainly posted clickbait and aggregated content. Earlier changes also caused backlash from some creators, and Elon Musk paused one proposed change after users complained about how it could affect creators with audiences in different countries.
X has also introduced rules aimed at removing creators from monetization programs when they misuse AI generated content or manipulate engagement.
For example, X previously said creators could be suspended from its revenue sharing program for posting misleading AI generated videos of armed conflicts without disclosure.
All of these changes point in the same direction.
X is trying to make its creator economy harder to exploit.
Why Original Content Matters to X
There is a simple business reason behind this change.
If people keep seeing the same viral content copied by hundreds of accounts, the platform becomes less useful.
Users may have little reason to follow ten different accounts if all ten accounts are posting the same videos, jokes, screenshots or news stories.
Original creators, on the other hand, give people a reason to follow a particular account.
A journalist may provide original reporting. A photographer may share pictures that nobody else has. A commentator may offer an opinion that makes people think. A designer may create graphics that others want to share.
These creators make the platform more valuable because they produce something people cannot get simply by following another account.
What This Means for X Creators
For creators, the biggest lesson is that copying viral content is becoming a much weaker business strategy on X.
Creators who depend heavily on reposts may find it harder to qualify for monetization or remain in the program.
People who create their own videos, write original posts, report stories, analyse topics or add useful commentary could benefit from the new direction.
This does not mean every post has to be completely new or created from scratch. A creator can still discuss popular topics and respond to other people’s work. The important thing is that the creator adds something meaningful rather than simply recycling what already exists.
Could This Affect AI Content?
AI is not automatically banned from the new program.
However, X’s focus on originality raises an important question about AI generated content.
As artificial intelligence makes it easier to create posts, images, videos and other material at a large scale, platforms have to decide what counts as genuine creative work.
A person using AI as a tool to help develop an original idea is different from someone using AI to mass produce hundreds of low value posts.
X has not said that AI assisted content is automatically excluded from Original Content Rewards. Instead, the wider direction of its policies suggests that the company is more interested in the value and originality of the final content.
Will the New Program Be Better?
That remains to be seen.
X believes starting again is better than continuously adding new rules to the old system. The company said it could have continued adding exceptions and restrictions, but decided that a new program built around originality would be a better solution.
However, the new system will still have to deal with difficult questions.
How will X decide whether commentary is meaningful enough? How will it identify content that has been copied? How will it handle creators who use other people’s material as part of genuine reporting?
The answers will become clearer as the program develops.
The Bottom Line
X is changing how creators get paid because the company believes its old Revenue Sharing program created the wrong incentives. Instead of rewarding accounts simply for generating large amounts of engagement, X now wants its monetization system to encourage creators to bring original reporting, ideas, videos, images, analysis and other useful content to the platform.
For creators, this is an important warning. The days when simply finding a viral post, downloading it and uploading it again could be a viable way to build a monetized account are becoming less attractive. X is clearly moving toward a model where the creator who actually produces or meaningfully develops the content has a better chance of being rewarded.
The bigger change is not really the name of the program. It is the change in what X wants its creator economy to produce. If Original Content Rewards works as intended, success on X may increasingly depend not on who can repost the fastest, but on who can give people something they cannot get anywhere else.