X sues users accused of exploiting creator revenue sharing to fraudulently obtain about $277,000

James Burnham, who handles legal affairs for SpaceXAI and X, announced on his X account that X has sued several users over an alleged scheme to exploit its Creator Revenue Sharing program.

X sues users over alleged abuse of Creator Revenue Sharing

On September 21 Japan time, James Burnham, who handles legal affairs for SpaceXAI and X, announced on his X account that X has sued several users over an alleged scheme to exploit its Creator Revenue Sharing program.

According to Burnham, the users operated a coordinated network of accounts, posted fake content, and manipulated engagement. He also said they used multiple bank accounts to make the scheme harder to detect.

According to a complaint published by X, X Internet Unlimited Company and X Corp. filed a lawsuit on September 17, 2026, in the Business and Property Courts of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales against two users and unidentified individuals who controlled related accounts. X accuses them of exploiting its Creator Revenue Sharing system.

X claims the defendants worked together across multiple accounts to inflate engagement and collect revenue through fraud. According to the complaint, the defendants operated multiple accounts as a single network and used them to like, repost, and reply to one another. X also says the defendants posted near-identical content from multiple accounts within short periods to make the engagement appear to come from genuine users.

X says the defendants obtained £207,384, or about $277,000, through Creator Revenue Sharing and forced the company to spend at least £75,000, or about $100,000, responding to the scheme.

X also accuses one defendant of offering paid engagement manipulation services to third parties and attempting to acquire accounts with large follower counts. As evidence, X cites messages in which the defendant appears to have tried to purchase a third party's account and asked the other party to move the conversation to a separate encrypted channel.

According to the complaint, accounts connected to the defendants shared financial information tied to services such as Stripe, along with devices, software clients, UUIDs, device tokens, and cookies. X also claims the defendants supplied false information, or information intended to conceal their connections, for Stripe account names and addresses.

Through the lawsuit, X asserts claims including fraudulent misrepresentation, conspiracy by unlawful means, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. The company seeks repayment of funds it says the defendants obtained through fraud, along with damages, interest, and legal costs. X also argues that the defendants' conduct increased the volume of low-quality content, diverted revenue from legitimate creators, and harmed X's reputation and customer relationships.

X says it suspended the related accounts on August 18 for "coordinated revenue sharing fraud and platform manipulation." Burnham said X will not tolerate fraud on the platform and will take firm action to protect revenue earned by genuine creators.

X has ended the Creator Revenue Sharing program that the defendants stand accused of exploiting and replaced it with the Original Content Rewards program.

My analysis

Former X head of product Nikita Bier had raised concerns about users exploiting Creator Revenue Sharing and said he wanted X to reward users who publish original content. Bier has since stepped down as head of product and now serves as an adviser.

The lawsuit shows that X continues to prioritize original content after Bier's departure.

Under the Original Content Rewards program, which replaced Creator Revenue Sharing, X limits monetization to original content. The following types of content do not qualify for monetization:

• Content copied from other creators or sources
• Content that makes only minor changes to existing material without adding meaningful changes
• Content that compiles material from other creators or sources without adding a substantive new perspective or framing
• Content from other platforms that someone other than the original creator reposts

According to posts from users who applied to the Original Content Rewards program, X may also reject accounts that post the same content repeatedly during the review process.

X has discontinued the Creator Revenue Sharing program that some users exploited and shifted its focus toward users who publish original content. X appears set to maintain that focus.