Elon Musk just overruled his own product chief in a very public reversal. X's Head of Product Nikita Bier announced Tuesday that the platform would slash payouts to foreign creators who rack up engagement from American users, a move explicitly aimed at curbing what he called "engagement farming" around U.S. politics. But the policy never made it past the announcement stage—Musk intervened before it could go live, leaving creators and the platform's monetization strategy in limbo.
X almost made a dramatic shift to how it pays creators—until its owner stepped in at the last minute. The platform's Head of Product, Nikita Bier, took to X on Tuesday to announce what seemed like a done deal: starting Thursday, creator revenue sharing would prioritize impressions from users in a creator's home region rather than treating all engagement equally.
The motivation wasn't subtle. "While we appreciate everyone's opinion on American politics, we hope this will disincentivize gaming the attention of US or Japanese accounts," Bier wrote in his announcement post. The subtext was clear—X wanted to crack down on what it sees as foreign creators capitalizing on divisive American political content to farm engagement and boost payouts.
But the policy never launched. According to The Verge's reporting, Elon Musk intervened before the change could take effect. The reversal marks yet another instance of Musk publicly contradicting his leadership team's decisions, raising questions about who's actually steering product strategy at the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The proposed change would have fundamentally altered X's creator economics. Right now, the platform's revenue-sharing program pays creators based on ad revenue generated from replies to their posts by verified users. It's a system that rewards viral engagement regardless of where that attention comes from. Under Bier's plan, a creator in Nigeria posting hot takes about U.S. elections would see dramatically reduced payouts even if Americans flocked to engage with their content.
