X creators whose posts were amended or corrected in Community Notes are no longer eligible to receive ad revenue share, owner Elon Musk said on Sunday. Community Notes is a fact-checking program on X, formerly known as Twitter, allowing users to provide additional context or correct misinformation below the post.
“The idea is to maximize the incentive for accuracy over sensationalism,” Musk said in a post on X. While anyone can contribute to Community Notes, Musk warned users not to falsely claim a creator’s post is incorrect.
He wrote in a follow-up post it is “worth ‘noting’ that any attempts to weaponize Community Notes to demonetize people will be immediately obvious because all code and data is open source.”
Musk introduced X’s ad revenue-sharing program earlier this year, giving creators with an X Premium account or a Verified organization income from ads in replies to their posts. The program was only available to users with at least 500 followers and a minimum of five million organic impressions.
The program did pay out as described but those receiving a paycheck were made of up mostly right-wing influencers, The Washington Post reported in July. Andrew Tate, who was charged with rape and human trafficking and was released from jail in April, posted a screenshot on X showing he received more than $20,000 from the company.
Far-right influencer Rogan O’Handley also posted a screenshot showing he earned more than $7,000 in ad revenue. “This is a nice turnaround from being banned by Twitter 1.0 for almost 2 years to now being paid to post Thank you @elonmusk,” O’Handley wrote.
Former X CEO, Jack Dorsey, launched Community Notes, known previously as Birdwatch, in 2021 to debunk misinformation on X, then Twitter. Under Musk’s ownership, X has become one of the leading social media platforms for misinformation and disinformation.
X’s new ad revenue share program’s policies come as the platform received criticism in recent weeks for not taking steps to stem the influx of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war. In fact, Musk appears to be promoting some of the accounts posting the misinformation, according to a report published by the University of Washington’s Center for Informed Public. The report claimed the most popular posts about the war are “faster, more disorienting, and potentially more shaped by Musk himself.”