X replaces revenue sharing program

X is shutting the door on its existing Revenue Sharing program and replacing it with a new scheme it calls Original Content Rewards, according to TechCrunch. The company said it will stop accepting new participants for the old program, with current participants continuing to earn through September 7 and becoming eligible to apply for the replacement program from September 8.

The change is an attempt to unwind a payout system that, by design, rewarded whatever reliably generated engagement, including fast reposting and lightly edited aggregation. Under the new rules, participants must subscribe to one of X’s Premium tiers and clear two reach hurdles: at least 500 verified followers and 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users in the past 90 days, TechCrunch reports. The gatekeeping is explicit: payouts are no longer framed as a broad creator dividend, but as a benefit for accounts that already sit inside X’s paid and verified ecosystem.

X says it will pay for “original” posts, a category that includes original reporting and analysis, photos and videos created by the poster, and memes or graphics designed by the poster. Commentary can count, but only if it adds “meaningful original value,” while accounts that “regularly incorporate” other people’s material must demonstrate that the transformation is substantial. Copies, downloaded-and-reuploaded videos, and reposts without meaningful changes are excluded.

That definition matters because X is also asking the platform to police its own business model. The company has previously acknowledged that the incentives were “misaligned,” with X executive Allegra Jacchia telling creators the goal is “net new content” rather than optimising for payouts, according to TechCrunch. The platform has tried to tweak the old system before, including a reform effort in April aimed at reducing payments to aggregators and clickbait accounts, only for Elon Musk to reverse parts of the change after backlash.

The new program is presented as a clean break, but it also concentrates leverage. Creators who want to be paid must buy Premium and meet verified-audience thresholds, and X says it will keep “refining” the program by improving models and “raising standards over time.” In practice, that means the same company that sells verification and distributes reach will also decide—algorithmically—whether a post is sufficiently “original” to qualify for money.

The old program winds down on September 7. From September 8, creators can apply to a new rewards system where the payment criteria, the moderation criteria, and the subscription bill all run through the same gate.