Elon Musk overrules product chief Nikita Bier, pauses X’s controversial region-based payout strategy

In a bizarre turn of events, Elon Musk has shelved the latest revenue-sharing policy shared by his own head of product. Earlier in the day, X’s Head of Product Nikita Bier had shared an updated revenue-sharing policy for creators, which focused on giving more weight to impressions from their home region.

However, soon after the policy was announced, there was a massive uproar from creators, many of whom shared how the majority of their views came from countries where they do not reside.

Responding to the uproar, Musk decided to pause the policy, writing, “We will pause moving forward with this until further consideration.”

Why did X change its revenue-sharing policy?

Bier had noted that the policy was being updated in order to ‘better reward the content we want on X:’

“We will be giving more weight to impressions from your home region—to encourage content that resonates with people in your country, in neighboring countries, and people who speak your language,” Bier wrote.

“We invite creators to start building an audience locally. X will be a much richer community when there are relevant posts for people in all parts of the world,” he added.

However, soon afterwards, there were concerns raised about how the policy seemed to be focused too much on stopping commentary on American politics from around the world while not recognising how there are various other content types on the platform as well.

One such user wrote, “This CAN’T be serious!? You do realize there are global content types beyond politics, right? This is a mistake that will ruin the nature of X. Please revert it before it’s too late.”

Musk responded to the post, writing, ‘Good point.’

Notably, Bier has been the head of product at X since June last year and is also said to be quietly advising the platform since October 2024. The techie has been known for building viral apps like tbh and Gas, while also having the experience of serving as a product manager at Meta.

Under Bier’s watch, the platform has been undergoing various changes, including the implementation of a Grok AI-powered algorithm and, most recently, the return of the dislike button, which is said to be in beta testing for now.

Bier has also been recently vocal in his criticism of creators who indulge in engagement farming to gain more traction on the platform. He had recently announced a 90-day suspension from the revenue-sharing programme for creators who post undisclosed AI-generated images on the platform.