Tech billionaire agrees to "crank up" revenue sharing for content creators, aiming to retain authoritative content in AI era

San Francisco, California | December 30, 2025 - Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has instructed his team to substantially increase payouts to content creators, in a move designed to make the platform more competitive with YouTube and secure high-quality content amid the rise of artificial intelligence.

The decision came in response to a user suggestion on X, where an individual proposed dramatically raising creator payouts—potentially exceeding YouTube's rates—and even absorbing short-term losses to dominate the market for "authoritative content" as large language models (LLMs) consume existing internet data.

"If I were at X or Elon, I'd crank creator payouts way way way way up. maybe even more than YouTube (you can eat the cost to try to win AGI)... Because the platforms that actually pay will be the only ones that will have any authoritative content left once the LLMs finish eating the rest of the internet’s homework," the post read.

Musk replied directly, agreeing with the proposal and signaling immediate action to implement higher payouts.

X already operates a creator revenue-sharing program, primarily based on ad impressions from Premium subscribers and engagement metrics. Creators must meet eligibility requirements, such as having at least 500 followers, being a Premium subscriber, and achieving minimum impression thresholds to qualify for monetization.

The announcement has sparked excitement among X users and creators, many of whom view increased payouts as a catalyst for more robust content production on the platform. Analysts note that higher rewards could help X attract and retain top talent, especially as AI tools like Grok (developed by Musk's xAI) increasingly rely on fresh, human-generated data for training and differentiation.

An X spokesperson declined to provide specifics on the payout increase timeline or exact figures, stating only that the company is "committed to empowering creators and will share more details soon."

Musk has long positioned X as an "everything app" with a focus on free speech and creator empowerment. Previous adjustments to the program have included shifting from ad-based revenue to Premium user engagement and lowering eligibility thresholds to include more users.

This latest move comes as X continues to navigate advertiser fluctuations and competition from platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Critics argue that generous payouts could strain X's finances in the short term, while supporters praise it as a bold strategy to future-proof the platform against AI-driven content scarcity.

The development is seen as part of Musk's broader vision to integrate X with xAI initiatives, ensuring a steady flow of unique, real-time content that AI systems cannot easily replicate from archived sources.

This is a developing story.