Will X pay creators more than YouTube? Elon Musk says ‘let’s do it’

Elon Musk on Wednesday, December 31, hinted at a renewed push to boost creator payouts on X, responding positively to calls that the platform dramatically increase compensation to retain authoritative content.

The exchange began after an X user argued that platforms paying creators more than rivals like YouTube would be best positioned to preserve high-quality, original content as large language models increasingly scrape and replicate online material.

“If I were at X or Elon, I’d crank creator payouts way way way way up,” the user wrote, suggesting the company could absorb higher costs to secure long-term relevance.

Musk replied: “Ok, let’s do it, but rigorously enforcing no gaming of the system,” tagging Nikita Bier, X’s head of product.

Bier responded shortly after, saying the company was moving ahead with stronger safeguards. “On it. We have a new method that should wipe out 99% of fraud,” he wrote, without detailing how the system would work.

In September, a user had complained to Bier that payouts on the platform were consistently lower than those received by peers. Bier at the time said creator payouts were doing “more harm than good” and that X needed to “off-ramp to a different system.”

Musk publicly pushed back on that assessment, saying the problem was not the idea of payouts but execution.

“No, the issue is that we are underpaying and not allocating payment accurately enough,” he wrote, adding that YouTube “does a much better job.”

X introduced creator payouts in 2023 as part of Musk’s effort to transform the platform into an “everything app” and attract professional creators, journalists and influencers.

However, the program has drawn criticism over inconsistent payments, lack of transparency and vulnerability to spam and engagement farming.

Musk has repeatedly said that rewarding creators is central to keeping high-quality content on the platform.