If you’ve found yourself rage-tweeting a response to some clearly unhinged troll, stop yourself for just a moment. As of July 13, Twitter is now paying an invitation-only select group of creators, namely famous right-wingers like Andrew Tate, in a so-called “Creator Ads Revenue Sharing Program.”
According to Twitter owner Elon Musk, the first round of creator payouts will total $5 million, divvied up to a select group of creators chosen by the platform (qualifications unknown), and will be cumulative from February forward. The payouts will be distributed through Stripe.
Creators are left with a lot of confusion around who is actually able to sign up for the program right away. The Twitter website states that admitted creators must be subscribed to Twitter Blue and have earned more than 5 million tweet impressions each month for the last 3 months, but does not have any clarity around the program — why some creators received invitations and not others, how to apply, and if you’re accepted, how your slice of the $5 million pie is calculated.
While most are left in the dark about how to get into the “program,” those who have already curried favor with Elon Musk seem to have access immediately. As Taylor Lorenz of The Washington Post reported
Right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong (who has 685,000 followers) and right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson (who has 1.7 million followers) were among those who confirmed their earnings. Cheong said he was getting $16,259, and Johnson said he’d be getting $9,546. According to Insider, Andrew Tate, an influencer with over 7 million followers facing rape and human trafficking charges in Romania, claimed he was paid $20,397 under the program. …
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*First Published: Jul 18, 2023, 12:11 pm CDT
Patricia Grisafi
Patricia Grisafi, Ph.D. is a New York City-based freelance writer and educator. She is the author of Breaking Down Plath (Jossey-Bass). Her cultural criticism has been featured in NBCThink, Salon, The Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, Vice, and elsewhere.
