TechCrunch Industry News Elon Musk pauses changes to X’s creator revenue-sharing program after backlash; Sift Stack bringing the software that helped launch rockets to the factory floor
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Mar 26, 2026 A policy about region-weighted creator payouts on X gets paused after backlash and new rules target AI-generated war misinformation. A startup repurposes rocket telemetry tools for factory floors to make sensor data AI-ready and cut automated testing costs. Funding and big-name customers highlight the industrial shift toward advanced manufacturing data infrastructure.
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X Pauses Region Weighted Creator Payouts
- X paused a plan to weight creator payouts toward impressions from a creator's home region after global backlash.
- Nikita Beer proposed the change to discourage gaming the algorithm by posting about larger markets like the U.S. or Japan, and Elon Musk halted rollout hours later.
Region Bias Would Hurt Global Creators
- The proposed payout change would have affected creators who post globally about non-political topics like sports, fashion, movies, or tech.
- Critics said many creators use English or other languages to reach audiences beyond small home-country user bases, so the rule risked hurting legitimate global creators.
X Is Tightening Rules To Fight Misinformation
- X has added profile fields and payout rules aimed at reducing misinformation and AI-driven deceptive posts.
- Last November it added a country/region field, and this year barred creator payouts for 90 days when undisclosed AI posts mislead about war.