X cuts payments to clickbait and news aggregator accounts
What's the story
X is reducing payments to accounts that post clickbait and quickly aggregate news. Nikita Bier, the head of product at X, has announced this move. He said all aggregator accounts had their payouts reduced to 60% in the current cycle and will see another 20% cut in the next pay cycle.
Policy clarification
Platform's stance on clickbait posts
Bier also clarified that X will reduce payments for habitual clickbait posters who use terms like "BREAKING" in every post. He explained that flooding the timeline with numerous reposts and clickbait daily crowds out real creators and hampers the growth of new authors. While Bier stressed that X won't infringe on speech or reach, he made it clear they won't compensate for manipulation of their program or users.
Creator backlash
Controversy over the new policy
The announcement has sparked controversy, with some conservative news accounts claiming they received emails from X about their accounts being demonetized. Dominick McGee, a popular creator on the platform, expressed his discontent over the sudden change in policy. He questioned how he could lose his monetization status without any explanation and accused X of prioritizing complaints from users who don't contribute to content creation on the app.
Twitter Post
Bier's response
All aggregators had their payouts reduced to 60% this cycle. We will add another 20% deduction in the next cycle.
— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) April 11, 2026
It became abundantly clear: flooding the timeline with 100 stolen reposts and clickbait everyday crowded-out real creators and hurt new author growth.
The next step…
Economic implications
Implications for the creator economy
McGee's case underscores the complexities of X's creator economy. Accounts that built large audiences through rapid-fire updates, often mixing news, opinion and speculation, now have to navigate a changing system. Some see this as a correction while others view it as an abrupt rule change. The move has also sparked debate about the platform's value with data analyst Nate Silver criticizing how difficult it has become to drive traffic from X to other websites.