---
title: 'SpaceX Just Stopped Paying People at X'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=uKd_h4Z6YxE'
video_id: 'uKd_h4Z6YxE'
date: 2026-08-09
duration_sec: 646
---

# SpaceX Just Stopped Paying People at X

> Source: [SpaceX Just Stopped Paying People at X](https://youtube.com/watch?v=uKd_h4Z6YxE)

## Summary

The video discusses the major changes to X's (formerly Twitter) monetization program, announced via email, which will significantly alter how creators are paid. The host, Kevin, explains the rationale behind the changes, linking them to a June 30th experiment that removed top revenue-share accounts and saw increased engagement. He breaks down the new eligibility requirements, which focus on original content and premium user impressions, and offers his analysis on why this is a positive move for the platform.

### Key Points

- **Monetization Program Overhaul Announced** [00:02] — X has officially announced changes to its monetization program, moving away from the current revenue share model. The host received an email detailing the new system, which will take effect on September 7th.
- **June 30th Experiment: Removing Top Earners** [00:15] — On June 30th, X ran a 3% experiment where they removed the top 30 highest-paid revenue share accounts from the 'For You' timeline. This resulted in both increased time spent on the platform and higher daily active usage.
- **Problem: Repetitive Content Flooding Feeds** [01:31] — The current monetization system incentivizes users to share the same breaking news repeatedly, often just quote-tweeting without adding value. This floods feeds with duplicate content and forces X to pay multiple times for the same story.
- **New Focus: Unique Value and Originality** [02:55] — The email emphasizes rewarding 'breaking news, expert insights, unique experiences, creativity, and commentary that moves culture forward.' The host interprets this as X wanting to pay for unique value, not repetitive quoting.
- **Example of Low-Value Content** [03:23] — The host contrasts a long, detailed article from SemiAnalysis with multiple quote tweets that just say 'WTF' or 'this is insane.' These low-effort posts collectively get far more impressions and therefore more monetization than the original article.
- **X's Financials: Subscriptions Up, Ads Down** [05:29] — Grok and X subscriptions increased to 258 million, but ad revenue fell from 426 million to 367 million, a $59 million decline. The growth in subscribers is being offset by a decline in advertising revenue.
- **New Monetization Requirements Announced** [06:41] — The new program, effective September 7th, requires creators to be premium subscribers, have at least 500,000 home timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days, have 500 verified followers, and actively post original content.
- **Qualified Impressions: Premium Users Only** [07:08] — Monetization will now only count impressions from premium users on the home timeline feed where at least 50% of the post is visible. Impressions from the same account will only be counted once per post.
- **Definition of Non-Original Content** [08:30] — Content that is copied, minimally modified, aggregated without new perspective, or reposted from other platforms by someone other than the original creator will not be considered original and will not be monetized.
- **Impact: Many Will Lose Revenue Stream** [09:14] — The new requirements will cause many users to lose their revenue stream. The host notes that the new system will be an ongoing, rolling 90-day test, and there is a list of eligible countries.
- **Host's Verdict: A Win for X** [10:08] — The host believes these changes are a smart move for X, as they will improve content quality and potentially help sell more advertising space. He concludes it's a 'W' for Elon Musk and SpaceX.

### Conclusion

X is fundamentally changing its monetization program to reward original, value-adding content and discourage repetitive, low-effort posts. While this will cut off many current revenue streams, the host believes it will improve the platform's content quality and overall health.

## Transcript

monetization at X. And I personally think this is a fantastic set of news. A lot of this probably comes from the experiment that Nikita revealed back on
June 30th. If you weren't watching, don't worry, I'll catch you up, but it's official. The monetization program at X is dead in the way we know it. I'm going to explain how it's changed. Here's the email that came in. We are going to look
at that email. We're going to break down what's different. But first, you need a all the way scroll all the way back on your ex timeline to June 30th. And then you're going to see why one of these big changes came into place. So on June
30th, Nikita, who literally just stepped down from X and and uh their role at X lot of people speculated was because have had. We don't even know if they had shares. we we it doesn't matter, right?
why they stepped down. People really like this person, you know, I thought single day they tried to improve the platform. But this was very interesting. platform. But this was very interesting. In a 3% experiment, they removed the top
30 highest paid revenue share accounts from the 4U timeline. And when they did that, they actually saw that both time spent and daily active usage went up. So, basically, think about it like this. If you're on X
and there's a piece of breaking news, okay, like somebody like me who pays for a wire service, let's say I pay for a wire service, I see a piece of breaking news, I see, okay, Goldman Sachs uh reports a 7.2% passive stake in Nebius
Group as of June 30th. Oh, that's pretty cool. All right, let's say then I take that breaking news and I throw it into X and I'm one of the first people to post it or I post it algorithmically, which I can. I I don't I actually provide this
for free right now. I I don't I don't Yeah, you could go get this for free in the Meet Kevin app in the uh Google or Apple uh app store. You could even get want. But anyway, the point is you could use this wire service for free and you
minute. This is what the news companies use, right? And you don't actually have to use X to get that minute-byminute news. This is why I like this. But what happens on X is usually, in my opinion, you get because of the monetization
system, you get a lot of people who are going to share the same thing over and over and over again, and then they just quote tweet it and X basically has to pay monetization for the same piece of news over and over and over again. And
people aren't actually contributing new value. They're just flooding your feed with the same news story and not really anything new. And I think what X is doing here is they're basically saying, "Look, we want stuff that's unique." In
fact, when you look at the email, you could see them say here, "Breaking news, expert insights, unique experiences, creativity, and commentary that moves culture forward." In my opinion, this is basically just look, you could sum all
you a little window dressed in terms of how they would it. I think you could literally just say, "Hey, listen. If you actually provide value, we will gladly But if you're just quoting the same crap over and over again, we ain't going to
example. So, I posted a comment on the semi analysis article like a couple They still haven't responded to me because I think there's a fatal flaw in their article. And at the same time, while I think there's a fatal flaw, and
because I actually read the article, you've got a lot of people like this guy, and a lot of people are doing this, they literally just quote tweet semi analysis. They screen grab one picture from the story, and then they go and say
from the story, and then they go and say something like WTF or this is insane or something like WTF or this is insane or rocket emoji. Now, think about it. You have the semi-analysis people who took the effort to write a long freaking
article. I disagree with the substance of the article. I haven't quote tweeted or said anything, right? But anyway, semi-analysis post their article. Now you got three people who are collectively probably getting 10 times
as many impressions as the original writers. And so X is now paying 10 times as much money to all these knuckleheads who are just going WT, [screaming] right? X is paying 10 times as much money to all these knuckleheads and the
people who actually wrote the story are like whatever maybe people will sign up for our you know wire our substack or whatever it is they sell right so fine now I personally think if somebody now quote tweets this and says hey there's a
fatal flaw in your article why did you assume this which directly contradicts your assumption over here that's kind of a fatal flaw why don't you address it
that is a way to provide more value in my opinion because rather than just you're going hey there's actually some more nuance here there's a problem here good because of that or bad because of this whatever right that's providing
trying to do and I think they're trying to do that with Grock probably they'll speaking of Grock it's worth noting that AI infrastructure revenue obviously was the focus of uh SpaceX's last earnings but if you actually look closely ly at
page 44 of the earnings filing, you could see that Grok and X subscriptions increased to 258 million. But while Grock and X subscriptions, so like X premium, where you get monetized or see fewer ads, well, that went up to 258
fewer ads, well, that went up to 258 million, they actually lost on ads. They million, they actually lost on ads. They had ad growth fall. We went from 426 had ad growth fall. We went from 426 down to 367. A $59 million decline in ad
rates. That's not good. So, whatever growth we're seeing from subscribers is getting offset by a decline in advertising. So advertising down, yeah, less money to make up for that from premium users, but
make up for that from premium users, but if usage and uh uh time like how many days in a row you're going on the website is going down, we're causing problems. We need to fix this. And it, in my opinion, does go back to creating
people to share slop on the platform. And I am actually very supportive of this is a really good idea. I think you should only get paid if you provide more perspective or value. Like if somebody's talking about a stock, you know, pull up
the actual financials and add to the conversation. But anyway, the revenue effective September 7th. You'll get your final pay on September 11th. Beginning September 8th, you'll be able to apply for original content creators rewards
certain eligibility like ID verification, blah blah blah. Uh and then this is over here what qualifies. So this is interesting. Qualified impressions are unique impressions from premium users.
Oh. Oh, interesting. So, so you can only now get paid by impressions that come now get paid by impressions that come from premium users. Okay. On the home from premium users. Okay. On the home timeline feed where at least 50% of the
post is visible, right? Cuz if you're scrolling and you know you only see a not necessarily count. Oh, look at that. I actually replied, [laughter] "Dude, I didn't know I was going to find my own reply comment on this." July 1st.
So, I replied to Daily Lady. Yeah, because they copy and paste the same [laughter] I mean uh nailed it. [laughter] But, but anyway, impressions from the I mean, my ex usage has plummeted. I mean,
partly my ex usage has plummeted because I use a wire service. I honestly I think everybody should just use a wire service. uh it's it's much faster. You don't get distracted. You could kind of keep this up uh like on another screen
or whatever. And then you you see when the headlines come through. I mean, I know people who use the Meet Kevin app and and they're not getting charged for it. But anyway, impressions for the same account counted more than one per post.
same person keeps going back like I've gone back to that semi-piece like five artificially generated or fraudulent impressions would not monetize. I mean, that's fair. Okay. So, what's considered original content? Well, here is what's
not considered original. Copied content. Copied text, images, or videos copied from other people. Minimally modified. Uh, aggregating content, primarily combining news from other people with no new perspective. Yeah. A substantial new
perspective. Content taken from other platforms and reposted by someone other than the original creator. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you'll have some new requirements now. You'll have to be a premium or premium plus or business
subscriber. You need to have at least 500,000 home timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days. Oh, have at least 500 verified followers. Actively post original content. Wow. So, I mean, a lot of people are are going to
lose a revenue stream here. And and you'll have to be continuously requirements. So, so it sort of be this this ongoing test basically on on a rolling basis. It looks like it looks
like they're doing a rolling 90-day um uh test. And then of course, they've got a list of countries where there's eligibility. That's interesting. And That makes sense. I mean, you get like $2 distribution or whatever. Like, who
cares? The accounting work for that just just isn't worth it. This is actually really, I think, a smart thing for X. Again, my X usage has been declining, but that's me personally. Maybe yours is up as much, but like I noticed when they
monetized X, the value that I got from X actually declined a lot. So, I haven't posted there much. I I I did recently post a really nice piece there. Uh, but it was actually like [music] just totally original, like not anything
anybody else had any input into. It was just about Kevin and Margin Dad is what video on that. Uh, but this is a good thing. So, I think hats off to SpaceX. I actually think it will help them sell more advertising space because the
content will be better. So, good for them. Uh, I think this is actually a W for Elon Musk and SpaceX. >> Why not advertise these things that you knows about this. >> We'll we'll try a little advertising and
>> Congratulations, man. You have done so much. People love you. People look up to >> Kevin Pra there, financial [music] analyst and YouTuber. Meet Kevin. Always analyst and YouTuber. Meet Kevin. Always great to get your take.