Many creators turned away from Twitter when it became X, and the platform continues to lose creators due to unpredictable revenue and controversial content. However, the app still has a chance to make a comeback. People have been posting suggestions for how to improve X, and Elon Musk finally decided to use someone’s idea.
Elon Musk Implements Changes
On December 29th, 2025, @signull posted: “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 (which they have already done so for the most part).”
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).
— signüll (@signulll) December 30, 2025
because the platforms that actually pay will be the only ones that will have any authoritative content left once the llms finish eating…
To many people’s surprise, Musk responded to the post saying “let’s do it” and tagging Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X. Bier quickly replied “on it” while sharing that they have a new method to wipe out 99% of fraud.
With this change in place, X will have a better chance of competing with other platforms like YouTube and Instagram. This will not only make the platform more popular, but it will also support Grok, X’s AI assistant.
Bier also announced an update that would open up X Articles to all Premium subscribers, encouraging long-form content on the site. This would help keep users on the app rather than clicking off the site to read articles.
Ladies and gentlemen: Over the next week, we’ll be launching a handful of updates for our creators & power users.
— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) January 7, 2026
To kick things off, we’re opening up X Articles to all Premium subscribers. We’ve seen some incredible articles go viral over the last few weeks — and we’d love to…
Will This Work?
X creators have already noticed an increase in their earnings, indicating that Musk truly is following through on this change. While X Articles are now accessible to more people, they haven’t been too popular yet.
These changes are still new, so only time will tell if they’re effective or not. Bigger payouts and access to long-form posting will definitely encourage more users to turn to X. If this happens, X will be able to gather more information and fuel its AI projects. This would allow the platform to secure information for free or cheap rather than signing deals with major publishers.
On paper, it seems like a great move for X. Yet, a lot of journalists have lost trust in X, so will these changes be enough to win them back? Twitter was a key platform for media discussions, but Musk frequently criticizes any media that paints him negatively. So, there’s been a disconnect between him and journalists ever since he took over the platform.
Therefore, it could go either way. Maybe offering more money is enough to appeal to users, but there may also be a large number of journalists who will never return to the app.
How Brands Should Navigate X
People may have mixed opinions about X, but it’s a popular social media platform that can help elevate businesses. Marketing on social media platforms is more about quality than quantity. Brands need to use tactics that target their specific audience rather than just posting randomly.
Need help improving your marketing across various platforms? Contact Avenue Z today to see how our strategies can set your brand apart from the competition.
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