Elon Musk's X is revising its developer API policies to not allow applications like information finance (InfoFi) that reward users for posting on the social media platform, X product head Nikita Bier said on Jan. 15.
Bier said X has revoked API access from these apps and once the bots realize they're not getting paid anymore, the user experience on the social media platform should start improving.
Projects like InfoFi have led to a "tremendous amount of AI slop & reply spam on the platform," Bier underlined.
"If your developer account was terminated, please reach out and we will assist in transitioning your business to Threads and Bluesky," Bier added.
Dogecoin (DOGE) founder Billy Markus agreed that incentivizing spam is not a sustainable business model.
Popular onchain sleuth ZachXBT called the step "based."
The Web3 Collective founder David Choukroun said since X doesn't pay creators anywhere close to other platforms, people like him try to earn via other means like InfoFi.
Choukroun said creators like him are not bots and urged Bier to reconsider the decision.
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Popular InfoFi token crashes
In simple words, InfoFi is a crypto concept that involves turning financial information and user engagement into monetary value.
One such InfoFi project is Kaito.
It is an AI-powered search engine specifically built for crypto. It indexes information from social media platforms to separate signals from chatter, rewarding users for quality insights.
However, the Kaito project's native token, KAITO, fell from $0.7011 to $0.5671 immediately after Bier shared the announcement on X.
As the KAITO token tanked by 20%, Kaito founder Yu Hu announced sunsetting Yaps and incentivized leaderboards. Instead, he introduced Kaito Studio.
Hu admitted issues of low quality and spam persisting across the crypto space as X underwent platform-wide algorithm changes and other InfoFi projects went live.
"After discussions with X, it's agreed that a fully permissionless distribution system is no longer viable, nor aligned with the needs of high-quality brands, serious content creators, or X as a platform."
Kaito Studio will be much closer to a tier-based traditional marketing platform, Hu assured the users.
Related: Elon Musk's X plans new feature for crypto traders
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
