Twitter revenue payday: Why did Twitter gave Andrew Tate $30K

Twitter has paid millions to popular accounts, including Andrew Tate, in a move Elon Musk has described as “poetic justice”.

Why did Twitter gave Andrew Tate $20K

Twitter has begun paying creators for a share of the ad revenue earned from ads served in the replies to their posts.

Users subscribed to Twitter Blue (or that have a blue tick) and have earned more than five million tweet impressions each month for the last three months are eligible to claim the revenue.

Many accounts began flaunting their returns on Friday, with some truly astonishing figures being shared.

According to owner Elon Musk, the first round of creator payouts will total $US5million ($7.3 million) and will be cumulative from February.

The payouts will be delivered via the payment processing platform Stripe and according to popular accounts, the payouts from Twitter have been substantial.

The scheme was brought in by new owner Elon Musk. Picture: Alain Jocard

Ed Krassenstein, who was banned from Twitter before the Musk acquisition for allegedly using fake accounts to boost his main account’s traffic, was among the countless verified accounts to not only cash in big but share his return.

“When Elon Musk said that he was going to pay Twitter users a revenue share, I thought, ‘wow, that’s awesome’,” the independent journalist with almost 600,000 followers wrote.

“I assumed I would be getting paid around $500 or so for the past 4-5 months. I thought it would be pennies on the dollar compared to what George Soros pays me (sarcasm).

“I was wrong. Today I was surprised to see a payment of $US24,877 ($36,375) appear in my Stripe account, from Twitter.

When Elon Musk said that he was going to pay Twitter Users a revenue share, I thought, "wow, that's awesome."

I assumed I'd would be getting paid around $500 or so for the past 4-5 months. I thought, it would be pennies on the dollar compared to what George Soros pays me… pic.twitter.com/or1PBR2c97

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) July 13, 2023

“Now I’m going to stop promoting border crossings and begin promoting Tesla vehicles,” he joked.

Among those in Twitter’s payout pool was alleged human trafficker and controversial online identity Andrew Tate, who tweeted his receipt for $A29,798 under the new program.

He declared “every penny” of the proceeds would go toward his Tate Pledge charity initiatives.

The former pro kickboxer and reality TV star, who has been heavily criticised for his misogynistic views, last year claimed tech platforms had banned him for what he said were “traditional masculine values.”

Though Twitter, under Musk re-platformed him. Tate was banned in 2017 but was reinstated after Musk acquired the social network – he now has 7.2 million followers.

Last month Tate and his brother Tristan were charged with rape and human trafficking offences in Romania.

Andrew Tate made over $20,000 from the scheme. Picture: Daniel Mihailescu

The pair earlier this week sued a Florida woman and others, alleging they conspired in falsely them in the Romania case, according to AP.

Others shared the amount they received in ad-revenue payouts. Among them are political commentator and podcaster Benny Johnson, who received $A13,958. Additionally, Ashley St. Clair, a writer for the political satire site Babylon Bee, received $A10,459, and an account known as End Wokeness, whose owner remains anonymous, received $A15,234.

Twitter introduced the revenue sharing scheme for ads placed in tweet replies, exclusively available to Twitter Blue subscribers.

The scheme is a move by Twitter to allow uses to monetise content. Picture: Amy Osborne / AFP

Twitter announced its plans to expand the program’s eligibility to more creators later this month, aligning with its goal to support content creators and enable them to earn directly from the platform.

In addition to this program, Twitter offered creators with the ability to charge for access to their content, offering additional revenue streams.

Hugely popular YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, aka ‘MrBeast’ did not disclose his undoubtedly sizeable return but chose to make a game of his next month’s return.

“Whoever has the most liked reply to this in 48 hours gets all my Twitter revenue for the next month!” he tweeted.

The most liked reply at the time of publication was simply a full stop.

One popular account, Farzad Mesbahi, pointed out: “The more haters you have in your replies, the more money you’ll make on Twitter.”

“Poetic justice,” Musk replied.

Poetic justice

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2023