X Sues Two Men Over Alleged Bot Network That Looted Creator Payouts

Highlights

X filed a lawsuit in London accusing Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa and others of operating a coordinated bot network that manipulated engagement to claim Creator Revenue Sharing funds. The company says at least six accounts and multiple booster accounts posted near-identical Bitcoin content seconds apart and used Stripe profiles with mismatched names to receive payouts. X shut the program on September 7 and replaced it with Original Content Rewards, excluding artificially generated engagement. X seeks repayment of roughly £207,384 (about $278,000) plus damages, interest and legal costs.

Sentiment Analysis

• The overall tone of the article is serious and corrective: it reports on allegations of fraud and X's legal response. The sentiment skews toward negative regarding the accused conduct, while neutral-to-positive about X's enforcement actions. This results in a primarily mixed-to-negative sentiment because the story centers on deceptive activity and financial harm to the platform and legitimate creators. The factual reporting emphasizes legal steps taken and regulatory-type outcomes rather than sensational language.
  
  
  

  
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Article Text

X has brought a lawsuit in the High Court in London alleging that a group of accounts coordinated to manipulate engagement metrics and claim Creator Revenue Sharing payouts. The complaint names two individuals, Vivek Kumar Sen and Zamyang Sherpa, along with other unnamed parties. X contends the defendants ran a network of accounts that posted highly similar Bitcoin-related content within seconds of each other, boosted mutual engagement, and used Stripe accounts whose registered names did not match the apparent account holders to receive funds.

The Creator Revenue Sharing program paid creators a portion of advertising revenue based on engagement signals such as likes, replies and reposts. To qualify for payouts, accounts needed to meet thresholds including an X Premium subscription, five million impressions over three months, and 500 verified followers. According to the complaint, six accounts enrolled in the program between 2023 and 2026 and then coordinated activity to produce the appearance of legitimate audience interaction.

Examples cited in the filing describe near-identical posts published seconds or minutes apart. One highlighted instance on October 10, 2025 involved two accounts posting the same text and chart within two minutes, with other instances showing copied replies and cross-posted material. X alleges that such activity was intended to generate the engagement necessary to trigger revenue-sharing payments.

Payments to creators were processed through Stripe, and X says discrepancies between the Stripe profiles and the account operators helped conceal the scheme. In one alleged case, a Stripe profile showed a different name while the linked bank account and email traced back to one of the defendants. X also alleges recruitment attempts to expand the scheme by enlisting accounts with larger followings.

In response to the suspected abuse, X suspended nine accounts on August 18 and shut down the original Creator Revenue Sharing program on September 7, replacing it with a new Original Content Rewards structure that explicitly excludes "artificially generated" engagement from compensation calculations. X framed its lawsuit as a necessary step to protect genuine creators and the integrity of its monetization programs.

The legal claims include deceit, unjust enrichment, and a conspiracy to use unlawful means to cause financial harm — a UK category for coordinated actions using illegitimate methods. X also asserts a constructive trust, effectively treating the contested funds as still belonging to the company despite transfers. The complaint seeks recovery of at least £207,384 (about $278,000), plus damages, interest, legal costs and an additional sum X reports spending on investigation.

The filing was confirmed by James Burnham, general counsel for X and xAI, who said the company would act forcefully against fraudulent behavior on the platform. X has pursued prior enforcement and legal actions in response to alleged abuse tied to cryptocurrency-related accounts and similar schemes. The new case carries claim number BL-2026-001161 and, as reported, had not generated a defense filing by the date referenced in the complaint.

The dispute highlights broader challenges for platforms that tie payments to engagement: determining the authenticity of interactions, detecting coordinated inauthentic behavior, and designing payout systems that reward original work rather than manipulation. X's move to redesign its reward program reflects an effort to make payouts more robust against gaming while pursuing legal remedies against those it believes exploited earlier rules.

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