Working with X creators in 2026: payouts, labels and Gulf rules

X has shared ad revenue with creators since 2023. In 2026 it changed what that money rewards. In January it more than doubled the pool and began paying on impressions from verified users in the Home timeline. Over the year it cut off accounts that farm engagement or copy other people's posts, and on 8 September it replaced the programme with Original Content Rewards. For a brand booking creators on X, that shapes who is worth working with and what the deal should say.

How Original Content Rewards works

• To qualify, a creator needs a Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business subscription, 500 verified followers and 500,000 verified Home timeline impressions in 90 days, not counting replies.
• Copied or reposted content, and posts carrying Community Notes, earn nothing.
• The old programme paid on earnings up to 7 September; the new one started on 8 September.

The clean-up that came first

• January 2026: Articles, X's long-form posts, opened to all Premium subscribers.
• March 2026: creators who post unlabelled AI videos of armed conflict lose payouts for 90 days, and are removed on a repeat offence.
• July 2026: accounts that solicit engagement three or more times are removed from the programme and referred for suspension, with Grok doing the detection. X said it flagged 1.5 million stolen posts in one payout cycle, and that payouts to aggregator accounts were down about 80 percent this year.

How creators in the Gulf get paid

Since 2 September, US creators have been paid through X Money, X's new payments service, which is only available in the US. Creators elsewhere are still paid through Stripe. Stripe's own list of countries includes the UAE but not Saudi Arabia, so Saudi creators should check how they will receive payouts before counting on them.

What the subscriptions cost

• Premium: 8 dollars a month or 84 dollars a year.
• Premium+: 40 dollars a month or 395 dollars a year.
• Premium Business, the gold check for companies: from 200 dollars a month for Basic to 1,000 dollars for Full Access.
• Creator subscriptions, where followers pay a creator directly, were revamped in March, when X said it had paid out more than 45 million dollars to creators.

The paid partnership label, with local law on top

Since March 2026, creators can mark a post as a paid partnership with a built-in label instead of writing #ad. Reports differ on whether crypto, financial and gambling promotions may use it, and X's product head called one policy change an error, so check X's current policy before booking a creator in any of those categories.

The label does not replace local rules. In the UAE, the grace period for the advertiser permit ended on 31 January 2026 and enforcement began on 1 February, and creators must show their permit number on their profile. For content aimed at Saudi Arabia, check the creator's Mawthooq licence.

Mentions Boost, from the brand's side

Since July, businesses on Premium Business can pay to boost organic posts that mention them. Trade reports say the person who wrote the post is not paid. If you want to promote a creator's post this way, ask first and pay for usage, as you would for any other ad.

Clauses for a creator deal on X

• The paid partnership label on every sponsored post, plus the local permit or licence.
• Original content only, with no reposting of other people's material.
• No engagement bait in sponsored posts, since it could cost the creator their payouts.
• Written permission, and a fee, before the brand boosts any of the creator's posts.

Planning creator work on X for the Gulf, and not sure how to price it or word the brief? ALXO is happy to think it through with you.