- Influencers say they're being paid thousands of dollars under Twitter's new revenue-sharing program.
- The payments give creators a share of the revenue from ads in replies to their posts since February.
Several Twitter influencers — including many right-wing personalities — say the social-media company has told them to expect lofty payments in their Stripe accounts under Elon Musk's new plan to share some of the site's ad revenues. In some cases, Twitter has told them to expect tens of thousands of dollars.
Billy Markus, the creator of Dogecoin who has 2.1 million followers, tweeted on Thursday that he was getting $37,050 from the program. "i like twitter," he tweeted.
Brian and Ed Krassenstein, twin brothers with large social-media followings, said they were getting more than $24,000 each. "Now I'm going to stop promoting border crossings and begin promoting Tesla vehicles," Ed tweeted.
The Babylon Bee writer Ashley St. Claire tweeted a screenshot saying that she'd made $7,153. She said the figure was "insanely good" and called on "every single creator" to share their content on the site.
Andrew Tate, an influencer with more than seven million followers who is facing rape and human trafficking charges in Romania, said he was being paid $20,397. The right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong said Twitter would be paying him $16,259, and Benny Johnson, a right-wing YouTuber involved in Turning Point USA, said he'd be getting $9,546.
Rogan O'Handley, a former entertainment lawyer who is now a right-wing influencer known as DC Draino, shared a screenshot saying he'd be paid $7,036. An anonymous account called End Wokeness said they were getting $10,419.
Twitter unveiled the new program on Thursday, saying that it would give creators a share of the revenue generated through ads featured among the replies to their posts. "This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter," the company said. Twitter said that the program would be available in countries where Stripe supports payouts but added that the program was initially being rolled out to a smaller group who had signed up for Musk's new subscription feature.
Eligible users must be subscribed to Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations but can't be a state-affiliated media outlet, a parody account, or a fan account. They must also be at least 18 years old and have at least five million total post impressions in each of the last three months.
The payments cover ad revenue earned since February.
The feature's launch came about a week after Meta unveiled its Twitter rival, Threads, which attracted more than 100 million sign-ups in just five days. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has tried to increase revenues and cut costs by charging users for blue verification checks, introducing a subscription service, and selling office furniture. The revenue-sharing program seems to be in sharp contrast to these goals but forms part of Musk's plan to entice more creators to the platform.
The rapper Zuby tweeted that the social-media site told him he'd earn $12,237.
Several accounts connected to Musk were told they'd also be getting payments. Jonas Lismont, who created the account @elon_alerts, said he was getting $2,226. Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor who posts regular commentary about Musk's businesses, tweeted that Twitter would pay him $6,465. The investor and podcaster Jason Calacanis tweeted that he'd be getting $4,266.
"It makes a lot of cents to create here!," Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted on Thursday after the program was announced.