Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) has filed a lawsuit in a US Federal Court against eight individuals for attempting to abuse X’s Creator Revenue Sharing Program by posting inauthentic content and falsifying engagement metrics to increase their earnings from X unfairly.
According to a statement from X, the 8 individuals also sold and used automation tools to manipulate engagement metrics on other major social media platforms. X is seeking the court to compel the individuals to refund all the earnings in millions of dollars that they have already earned.
This is the first time such a case has been filed by X since it was taken over by Elon Musk. The case has come as a surprise to millions of X users who are onboarded on the X Creator Revenue Sharing Program. This also explains why Elon Musk has not been paying the creators under the same program for some time now.
“This kind of fraudulent behavior is not tolerated on X, and we will act forcefully to protect the integrity of our platform, no matter where bad actors are located. Addressing this behavior is crucial for maintaining your trust in our platform and ensuring that the Revenue Sharing Program benefits deserving creators,” said X in a tough statement.
Millions of creators around the world have been benefiting from the X’s program, where they are paid when their revenue hits a certain amount, from as low as 10 US Dollars. In Kenya and other African countries, millions of verified X accounts are part of the program.
In Kenya, some of the big accounts that were found to have taken part in engagement farming were suspended and have never recovered. Some had followers totaling more than a million. Engagement farming involves using manipulative tactics to artificially inflate engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments on social media platforms. It’s a strategy that aims to boost visibility and follower count by exploiting platform algorithms that favor high engagement.
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