AI-Generated Melodramas Flood X, Monetised Through Platform's Revenue Sharing

Artificial intelligence-generated melodramas have proliferated across X, with creators leveraging the platform's revenue sharing programme to monetise engaging false narratives. These stories, presented as authentic first-person accounts, follow a recognisable pattern: an innocent protagonist faces injustice—false accusations, wrongful termination, family betrayal—only to be vindicated through dramatic revelation. The antagonist is typically humiliated or punished, delivering the emotional resolution audiences crave. Creators, predominantly from Nigeria, use tools such as ChatGPT and Grok to produce these narratives at scale. A self-identified 21-year-old trader operating under the handle BIGBEN disclosed earnings of $500 to $700 per two-week payment cycle, with some creators reporting substantially higher sums. To qualify for X's Creative Revenue Sharing programme, users must maintain Premium membership, accumulate 500 verified followers, and generate at least 5 million impressions quarterly. The posts achieve staggering reach, frequently attracting millions of views and hundreds of thousands of engagements. Researchers including Rob Cover from RMIT's Digital Ethnography Research Centre note the rigid narrative structure underpinning these stories, whilst Jenna Russell of the University of Maryland observes that generating such content requires minimal effort through carefully crafted AI prompts. X has taken action against bot-amplified fraud and stolen content, yet its stance on these manipulative fabrications remains ambiguous. While less explicitly harmful than misinformation or non-consensual material, the phenomenon underscores how AI capabilities can exploit fundamental human desires for poetic justice.