X Introduces Big, Promising Revamp of Its Program for Paying Content Creators

X is attempting to fix that problem where your timeline is choked with the same content, especially spammy videos from YouTube or TikTok, that just cycles over and over. It’s calling the new plan its Original Content Rewards Program, and—God help me—it sounds promising. The existing revenue-sharing program is now closed to new applicants, and will sunset entirely on September 7, with the last actual payments arriving around September 11. The new Original Content Rewards Program, meanwhile, is intended to “recognize creators who break news, share expertise, tell stories, create entertainment, and contribute meaningful perspectives to the conversation.” According to X, under the new system the common practice of just adding a text caption to someone else’s content won’t count as original. But “originality” is a big umbrella here. X’s list of disqualifying attributes includes: The X revenue sharing program has been troubled since the beginning. It was originally overly weighted toward the haves in the attention economy, and one early tweak lowered the required number of impressions for eligibility from 15 million in the last three months to a mere 5 million. But since it was always st