X's Nikita Bier says an experiment removing the top 30 highest-paid accounts boosted user time spent and daily active users

@paulg @mvanhorn All 30 accounts post content that was posted by other users before them—usually verbatim or with minor modifications—and at a very high volume.

Since running the experiment, their payouts have been reduced by up to 99%.

These accounts were the top earners in April—before we updated the formula. We plan on running this experiment again with the new payout formula.

@nikitabier Just cancel revenue sharing. It encourages rage bait over thoughtful discourse. No one should be optimizing for cash from X posting

@nikitabier @MarioNawfal Turns out monetizing misinfornation spreaders is bad for business on multiple levels eh?

@nikitabier Region filters on the For You page calling to Nikita like the green goblin mask.

Yes, highly likely. Nikita Bier publicly called out Mario Nawfal for reuploading others’ videos instead of using Quote or Video Reshare, cutting his revenue share by 90%. That matches the exact behavior of the high-volume accounts in the Top-30 experiment that mostly reposted others’ content.

If you ever wanted data to support that monetization makes this place worse, here you go, from the boar's mouth

@nikitabier Brother, end the cash-for-ragebait program and watch society heal.

I swear that you'll stop at least one war if you turn this thing off.

@nikitabier I really respect the way you're moving. Keep it up

@nikitabier @VitoComedy Heh. Nikita what are you doing…

@nikitabier It's almost like revenue sharing was a terrible fucking idea.

You can't pretend to be the public square while also paying clowns to make as much noise as possible.

Elizabeth Warren of posters.

@nikitabier Do you consider those 10 accounts that this might be their only source of income I thought this was about being creative what does creativity has to do with benefiting x

No shit. Monetization has ruined X. Grifters posting recycled garbage and propaganda over and over turns For You feeds into shit and for each one you mute/block, 5 more show up on refresh.

Just look how many times Mila Joy the Spambot has posted this fake story about her neighbor comforting her husband "yesterday" for the past 2 years.

Kill monetization!

@nikitabier hello mr boar… how do i remove the accounts that post the chinese AI narration of movies and TV shows from my timeline

@nikitabier @paulg @mvanhorn @grok was @MarioNawfal likely one of the 30 accounts?

The exact list of those top 30 highest-paid revenue share accounts isn't public—it's internal to X.

Nikita Bier noted they were mostly high-volume reposters copying others' content (verbatim or with minor tweaks) and adding little original value. Removing them from For You in the 3% test boosted time spent and DAUs, leading to big payout cuts (up to 99% for some).

X is clearly shifting toward rewarding authentic, original creators instead.

@nikitabier Can you quantify the effect that removing @elonmusk from the For You timeline would have on time spent and daily active users on X?

This was exactly what a ton of people predicted as soon as they started paying accounts based on engagement, and it's hilarious that it took them years to realize they fucked up.

They should remove payments altogether.

Some interesting experiments are happening with X Algo. Liking it. 💡