As concerns grow regarding foreign influence in American politics, X Head of Product Nikita Bier announced on Tuesday that the revenue-sharing program will be making payments based on engagement in a user's "home region." As soon as it was announced, Elon Musk put the program on "pause."
There are countless accounts on X based in foreign nations that spend most of their time commenting on American politics and culture. Additional foreign accounts comment on fringe US pundits, driving up their revenue stream even though that stream is not coming from American engagement. This gives that content an outsized appearance on X.
"Starting Thursday," Bier said, "we'll be updating our revenue sharing incentives to better reward the content we want on X: We will be giving more weight to impressions from your home region—to encourage content that resonates with people in your country, in neighboring countries and people who speak your language.
