Iran-Israel-US war: Elon Musk's X to suspend revenue sharing for undisclosed AI conflict videos

Billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform X will suspend users from its creator revenue-sharing programme for 90 days if they post AI-generated videos of armed conflicts without disclosure, the company’s head of product said, amid a surge of misleading content linked to the latest hostilities involving Iran, Israel and the United States.

Nikita Bier, head of product at X, said the platform was revising its creator revenue sharing policy to maintain authenticity of information during conflicts and prevent manipulation of the monetisation programme.

“Starting now, users who post AI-generated videos of an armed conflict—without adding a disclosure that it was made with AI—will be suspended from Creator Revenue Sharing for 90 days. Subsequent violations will result in a permanent suspension from the program,” Bier said in a post on X.

He said such content would be flagged if a post receives a Community Note or if metadata or other signals indicate the use of generative AI tools.

X flooded with misleading content

The move comes after a wave of misleading posts circulated on X following an announcement by US President Donald Trump that the United States and Israel had launched a “major combat operation” against Iran.

Within minutes of the announcement, hundreds of posts appeared on the platform making misleading claims about the scale and locations of the attack and Tehran’s response.

Some posts shared alleged footage of the attack that was actually months or years old, while others misattributed videos to incorrect locations.

In several cases, images appeared to be altered or generated with artificial intelligence, while some posts attempted to pass off video game footage as scenes from the conflict.

According to technology publication WIRED, many of the most widely shared posts came from users who pay for X’s premium subscription and may be eligible to earn money based on engagement, even if the content is inaccurate.

One viral video posted by a verified account claimed to show ballistic missiles over Dubai, but the footage was actually from Iranian missile strikes targeting Tel Aviv in October 2024. The post was viewed more than 4.4 million times.

Another widely circulated clip purported to show an Israeli fighter jet being shot down by Iranian air defence systems. The video was shared by dozens of accounts and one version alone was viewed more than 3.5 million times, though there were no credible reports of Israeli jets being downed over Iran.

Responding to Bier’s announcement, Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers said: “This is a great complement to @X’s community notes system, which results in less “reach” (thus monetization) for content annotated as inaccurate.”

“You don’t need a Ministry of Truth to incentivize truth online,” Rogers wrote.