X Tweaks Its Revenue Model, Shifts Creator Pay to Local Focus Amid US-Iran War Surge

New Delhi:  Elon Musk's X is rolling out a major tweak to its creator revenue sharing starting Thursday, prioritising views from home regions to cut down on spammy global content especially as US-Iran tensions dominate feeds and spark heated debates.

Nikita Bier, X's Head of Product, announced the change directly on the platform. "We'll be giving more weight to impressions from your home region—to encourage content that resonates with people in your country, neighboring countries, and people who speak your language," he wrote. Bier stressed this isn't about muting opinions: "While we appreciate everyone's opinion on American politics, we hope this will disincentivize gaming the attention of US or Japanese accounts and instead, drive diverse conversations on the platform." Creators are urged to "start building an audience locally," promising a "much richer community" with relevant posts worldwide.

The timing hits amid the escalating US-Israel-Iran conflict in March 2026, where strikes have spread across the Middle East, flooding X with commentary, AI fakes, and viral war talk. X recently mandated AI labels on conflict videos from paid creators and suspended violators, targeting misinformation. Bier's update battles "impression zombies"- accounts spamming replies with bots, emojis, or unrelated clips on US politics or Japanese trends to farm views and payouts.

Replies to Bier's post exploded with spice. A Portuguese creator pushed back: "There are barely any users in some countries. I don’t think people should be punished for having a wide reach beyond their country." Bier clapped back sharply: "We’d love to hear your thoughts about living in Portugal. I’m sure you have plenty of great stories about your day to day experience there. Of course, you’re welcome to continue chiming in on American politics. We just won’t send money overseas for that content." Antunes doubled down: "Every platform pays users based on performance, not by restricting location... In many countries, the user base on X is very small, so this limits people’s ability to grow."

The exchange underscores the friction. Small-market creators fear income drops from chasing lucrative US or Japanese audiences, where ad rates soar. Bier's stance? Performance still rules, but local resonance wins cash- spam on foreign whales gets starved. Japanese users have long griped about reply sections ruined by non-local grift, and war hype amplifies it.

Why prioritise locals now? Crises like US-Iran fuel rage-bait and propaganda floods. Foreign farms exploit algorithms, eroding trust. By boosting home, neighbours, and language matches, X rewards organic hits- a Hindi take on Gurugram life pays more for Indians than spamming US elections.

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