X’s Original Content Rewards programme is replacing the platform’s existing Revenue Sharing scheme, ending nearly three years of iterative fixes to a system X itself admits had grown structurally broken. The old programme closes to new participants immediately; existing members earn until 7 September, then applications for the replacement open on 8 September.
Allegra Jacchia, posting on X, said the existing programme ‘had reached a point where its incentives were misaligned.’ ‘Creators should be focused on bringing net new content to the platform instead of maximising payouts,’ she wrote. ‘We could have kept adding more rules and exceptions, but ultimately the better decision was to start fresh and build a programme designed from day one to reward originality.’ (Tuko.co.ke attributes a similar statement to Nikita Bier, described as a former product head now serving as an adviser; the snippet attributes it to Jacchia.)
What X Original Content Rewards Actually Pays For
The most meaningful structural change is how earnings are calculated. The old Revenue Sharing programme paid out a share of advertising revenue. The new scheme pays based on ‘qualified impressions’: views from unique, verified Premium subscribers who watch at least half of a post on the Home Timeline. Duplicated, paid, promoted, or fraudulent impressions do not count, according to Mashable.
What qualifies as original content covers more ground than the name implies. X lists original reporting, analysis, photos, videos, memes, and graphics created by the poster. MediaPost reports that threads, articles, illustrations, reactions, insights, and the creative editing of other creators’ posts are also eligible. Commentary counts, but only if a creator contributes ‘meaningful original value’ when incorporating others’ material. Copying posts across from another account, re-uploading downloaded content, or reposting without meaningful transformation: all excluded.
Creators can lose eligibility, too. The Desk reports that using AI or bot accounts to inflate impressions, making false statements or spreading disinformation, and having a post flagged with a Community Note all render the relevant content ineligible for payouts.
The Entry Bar Is Lower, But the Ongoing Requirements Are Stricter
On paper, the new programme is easier to enter. The follower threshold stays at 500 verified followers, but the impression requirement drops sharply: the old Revenue Sharing scheme required 5 million verified Home Timeline impressions in the prior 90 days. The new programme asks for 500,000 in 90 days, a tenfold reduction, according to a programme guide corroborated by X’s own help pages.
Creators must still subscribe to an X Premium tier. The Next Web reports that applicants must also be at least 18, live in an eligible country, and hold a Personal or Business account in good standing. Crucially, those thresholds must be maintained continuously after acceptance, not merely cleared once at sign-up. Miss them later and the payouts stop.
On the payments side, creators need a connected Stripe payout account or an X Money Account where available, completed identity verification, and a minimum payout balance of $30, according to NewsCord.
The payout calendar is already set. Creators enrolling before the September window can expect their first Original Content Rewards payment on 28 August 2026. Those who join after 8 September will see their first payment on 25 September 2026. Existing Revenue Sharing participants get three final payouts under the old programme: two on the standard mid- and late-August schedule, and a closing payment around 11 September covering earnings through the 7 September cutoff.
None of this arrived in a vacuum. X has been trying to fix Revenue Sharing for some time. In April it cut payments to aggregator and clickbait accounts. That prompted a backlash from popular accounts profiting from the existing structure, and Elon Musk reversed at least one change (restoring the weighting of a creator’s local audience in payout calculations) after the pushback. Since March 2026, X has also barred creators who post AI-generated conflict videos without disclosing their AI origin from Revenue Sharing for 90 days.
The cynic’s read: a cleaner ruleset is genuinely useful, and the lower impression threshold makes the programme accessible to a far wider pool of creators. Whether X’s content-quality models can reliably distinguish ‘meaningful transformation’ from a light caption change is the question the next few months will answer.
