Elon Musk acknowledged that X’s creator payouts are underpaid and misallocated, saying YouTube handles creator payments better.
Table of Contents
Musk’s critique of X’s monetization
Elon Musk weighed into a public thread about X’s creator program after product head Nikita Bier mentioned upcoming “small upgrades” for power users. Musk wrote that the platform was “underpaying and not allocating payment accurately enough,” and contrasted X’s system unfavorably with YouTube’s revenue sharing.
Creators’ complaints and internal debate
The exchange followed posts from creators reporting delayed and inconsistent payouts despite steady impressions. One creator said they had been “consistently underpaid.” Bier suggested the current payout mechanism “does more harm than good” and floated moving to a different system, prompting debate inside X about how to fix distribution and measurement.
Implications for X and next steps
Observers say X’s ad-revenue sharing, launched in 2023, has produced unpredictable results, with some high-impression accounts reportedly receiving only modest sums. Musk’s public criticism and praise for YouTube signal possible pressure to redesign X’s monetization model, but no concrete replacement or timetable has been announced.
