Twitter recently announced its decision to share advertising revenue with content creators on its platform. However, there have been accusations of bias relating to the first beneficiaries of this new initiative, including conservative influencers like Benny Johnson and Ashley St. Clair. Writing for the Washington Post, notoriously report Taylor Lorenz, who has been banned by Twitter for doxxing, claims that “So far, many of the influencers who have publicly revealed that they’re part of the program are prominent figures on the right.”
The Washington Post reports that Twitter recently made the decision to give content creators on its platform a portion of advertising revenue. However, some have accused the company of significant bias in the creators it has chosen to give access to the new income stream. Taylor Lorenz, who was banned by Twitter for “prior doxxing action,” is particularly up in arms about the new program.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images; BNN Edit
The social media giant’s new monetization scheme has seen influencers such as Ian Miles Cheong, Benny Johnson, and Ashley St. Clair publicly revealing their earnings from the program. Some have even reported earnings exceeding $20,000. One anonymous account, End Wokeness, tweeted, “Wow. Elon Musk wasn’t kidding. Content monetization is real,” accompanied by a screenshot showing earnings of over $10,400.
However, the program has not been without its critics. Some conservative content creators have voiced their dissatisfaction, arguing that the selection process is not equitable. Kris Ruby, a conservative influencer and president of Ruby Media Group, stated, “It doesn’t seem even across the board. I don’t think the playing field is level.” She further added that some conservatives who weren’t included in the program, despite meeting all the criteria, are venting in private.
Catturd, an anonymous conservative account with massive engagement on the platform, pointed out that “Twitter paid the people they wanted to pay today – and they didn’t pay the people they didn’t want to pay.”
Twitter paid the people they wanted to pay today – and they didn’t pay the people they didn’t want to pay.
Think about it.
You’d have to be a psychic to know that the only people who would suddenly get paid today would have to already have a subscription and a stripe account,…
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) July 14, 2023
Twitter has responded to these criticisms by stating that the creators’ share of advertising revenue would be calculated based on the number of replies to their posts and monthly impressions. The program is only available in countries where Stripe, a payment platform, supports payouts. Additionally, recipients must subscribe to Twitter Blue, the platform’s monthly subscription service, to be eligible.
Musk claims that the payouts aren’t determined by impressions, but rather how many ads were shown to other verified users.
It’s not exactly per impression. What matters is how many ads were shown to other verified users.
Only verified users count, as it is otherwise trivial to game the system with bots.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2023
Lorenz claims that a former executive, who wished to remain anonymous, stated, “The numbers are totally and completely bogus. It’s all completely made up. It really feels like they’re arbitrarily writing checks to people they like, which is not a sustainable creator strategy.”
Read more at the Washington Post here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan