X to pay creators more to compete with YouTube? Here's what Musk said

Elon Musk's comment, indicating a higher payout for creators, comes months after he acknowledged that the creators on the social media platform are paid less in comparison with other platforms

Billionaire and X owner Elon Musk on Tuesday (local time) hinted at increasing creators' payout to compete with YouTube, after he previously admitted that the content creators are underpaid.

 

Musk's remarks were in response to a post on X, calling for higher payouts to creators. "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)."

 

 

Responding to it, Musk said, "Ok, let's do it, but rigorously enforcing no gaming of the system." He further tagged X's head of product, Nikita Bier, who responded by saying X was "on it" and added, "We have a new method that should wipe out 99 per cent fraud," addressing the second part of Musk's suggestion.

 

Musk’s endorsement of increased payouts for creators comes as digital platforms step up efforts to hold on to original, human-made, and credible content, even as they are flooded with a growing volume of AI-generated material.

 

The remark follows comments made by the Tesla chief months earlier that X must improve what it pays creators if it is to compete with platforms such as YouTube.  ALSO READ | This Indian YouTube channel earned ₹38 cr through AI-generated videos

Musk acknowledges underpaying creators

 

In October, Musk highlighted that X was underpaying its creators. Responding to Bier's comment, Musk wrote, "No, the issue is that we are underpaying and not allocating payment accurately enough." He further went on to compare the micro-blogging platform with Google-owned YouTube and added, "YouTube does a much better job".

 

The micro-blogging platform launched its creator monetisation programme after Musk acquired the platform in a $44 billion deal. Under its current structure, verified users can earn a share of advertising revenue, which is linked to engagement metrics. However, despite rolling out a payout system for creators, X has often drawn criticism over a range of issues, including inconsistent earnings, delayed payments, and opaque monetisation metrics.