X targets reposted photos and videos, boosts original creators' credit

X is moving to blunt one of the most familiar drains on a photographer’s social media strategy: other accounts lifting a photo or video, reuploading it, and collecting the attention that should have gone to the original post. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said the company had identified large accounts that were “programatically reuploading content” and was now allocating impressions entirely to the creator instead of the reposting account. He also urged people to use X’s Share Video or Quote feature when sharing media, a small but important change if attribution is part of how work gets discovered.

For working photographers, the practical question is not whether X says it cares about original credit, but whether that credit starts translating into real reach and money. X’s creator revenue-sharing program pays creators based on engagement from Premium users, and the company’s terms say it can modify or cancel the program at any time. That makes enforcement especially important, because on X, stolen impressions are not just a branding problem. They can directly turn into lost payout for the person who made the image or clip in the first place.

The company has already been squeezing the accounts most likely to game the system. In April 2026, X said it was reducing payouts to aggregators and “habitual bait posters,” and TechCrunch reported that aggregators’ payouts were cut to 60% for that cycle, with another 20% reduction planned for the next one. One of the clearest examples came from Mario Nawfal, whose repost of an ABC News White House video drew a Community Note accusing him of stealing the video without credit. Coverage cited by PetaPixel said Nawfal’s revenue had already been reduced by 90% the previous cycle, and Bier’s response suggested that kind of account was exactly the sort X now wants to throttle.

The same problem has hit photographers beyond breaking-news video. PetaPixel previously reported that astrophotographer Paul M. Smith had multiple accounts steal his Geminids meteor-shower video, and that DMCA notices were eventually needed to pull most of the infringing posts down. Some of those larger accounts then blocked Smith after he filed takedowns, a reminder that the platform’s power still tilts toward the louder account until someone forces the issue.

X’s latest move may improve attribution at the margins, and it may help original creators reclaim some of the audience and revenue that repost farms have been siphoning off. But for photographers, the story stays the same: social platforms remain a place where credit has to be defended, not assumed.