X Boosts Creator Earnings to Rival YouTube
Billionaire and X owner Elon Musk on Tuesday proposed a possible rise in payouts for creators to enhance competition with YouTube, recognizing previously that content creators are underpaid. Musk’s remarks were in response to a post on X that called for higher compensation for creators. “If I were at X or Elon, I would significantly increase creator payouts.” Perhaps even more than YouTube, one might absorb the cost in an attempt to secure AGI, as the platforms that genuinely compensate will be the sole providers of any authoritative content remaining once the LLMs have consumed the majority of the internet’s resources, which they have largely accomplished already.
Musk replied, saying, “Ok, let’s do it, but rigorously enforcing no gaming of the system.” He further tagged X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, who responded by stating that X was “on it” and added, “We have a new method that should wipe out 99 per cent fraud,” addressing the second part of Musk’s suggestion. Musk’s endorsement of increased payouts for creators comes at a time when digital platforms are ramping up their efforts to retain original, human-made, and credible content, even as they face an overwhelming influx of AI-generated material.
The statement responds to previous comments from the Tesla chief, who suggested that X must improve its compensation for creators to successfully compete with platforms such as YouTube. In October, Musk stated that X was not adequately compensating its creators. In reply to Bier’s remark, Musk asserted, “No, the issue is that we are underpaying and not allocating payment accurately enough.” He further compared the micro-blogging platform to Google-owned YouTube, asserting, “YouTube does a much better job”.
The micro-blogging platform launched its creator monetisation programme after Musk’s acquisition of the platform in a $44 billion deal. In its current setup, verified users can earn a share of advertising revenue linked to engagement metrics. Despite the implementation of a payout system for creators, X has often been subject to criticism over several issues, including inconsistent earnings, delayed payments, and ambiguous monetisation metrics.
