X has announced a major update to its creator monetisation program that targets one of the platform’s biggest problems: stolen content and engagement farming. The company says it is now using a more advanced version of its Grok AI model to detect copied posts and reward the original creator instead of the account that reposted them.
According to X, the new AI system can identify duplicated content three times better than before. It can detect copied videos and text posts, even if they have been edited with watermarks, intros, or other changes to make them look original.
The company says it recently detected around 1.5 million stolen posts and will redirect more than $1 million in creator payouts to the people who originally created the content. X has not revealed the time period during which these posts were identified.
The platform is also tightening its rules against engagement bait. Accounts that repeatedly use tactics like asking users to reply or follow in exchange for a follow back could lose access to the creator monetisation program. Repeat offenders may also face account suspension.
This move is not surprising. Since X introduced creator payouts, many users have complained that large aggregator accounts were earning money by reposting viral videos, memes, and tweets created by others. Some of these accounts built massive followings without producing much original content.
If X’s new system works as promised, it could make content theft far less profitable. Instead of earning money from someone else’s work, repost accounts may see their monetised impressions redirected to the original creator. That would remove one of the biggest incentives for copying viral content.
However, the update also raises several questions. AI is becoming better at identifying similar content, but it is not perfect. There are cases where creators repost their own work from another platform, collaborate with others, or publish edited versions of their original content. It remains to be seen how accurately X can distinguish between content theft, fair use, and legitimate reposts.
Another challenge is determining who the real creator is. A video may first appear on TikTok, then be uploaded to Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and finally X. In such cases, identifying the true owner is not always easy. X has not shared how it plans to resolve ownership disputes or whether creators will have a way to appeal incorrect decisions.
The timing of this update is also interesting. Social media platforms are under increasing pressure to reward original creators instead of accounts that simply recycle popular posts. AI-generated content has made the problem even bigger, with bots and automated accounts flooding platforms with copied or slightly modified content to earn advertising revenue.
This could be the beginning of a larger change happening across the industry. If X succeeds in reducing content theft without hurting genuine creators, other platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and even YouTube may introduce similar AI-powered detection systems.
The company wants to make original content more valuable and remove the financial rewards for copying someone else’s work. Whether the new system can achieve that without making mistakes is something creators will be watching closely.
