X Sues Bitcoin Account Operators Over Alleged $278K Payout Fraud
The social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit in the High Court of England and Wales against alleged operators of a Bitcoin-focused account network — Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa, and unidentified individuals. The company accuses them of fraudulently obtaining at least £207,384 (approximately $278,000) from its creator revenue-sharing program by coordinating multiple accounts to artificially inflate engagement metrics with reposts, likes, and similar content posts to simulate genuine human interaction.
Lawsuit Targets Operators of Bitcoin Account Network
X filed the lawsuit on June 8, 2024, accusing Sen, Sherpa, and unidentified account operators of fraudulently securing payouts by manipulating engagement. The suit identifies six accounts enrolled in X's creator revenue-sharing program between August 2023 and February 2026: @Vivek4real_, @Bitcoin_Teddy, @saylordocs, @TrendingBitcoin, @Kalshibacktest, and @PolyBackTest. Stripe accounts linked to the first three profiles reportedly belong to Sen, and the others to Sherpa.
Methods of Fabricating Engagement
The court filing states the accused coordinated mutual likes, reposts, and replies to fabricate genuine user interaction. They published identical or very similar posts within seconds of each other — for example, on August 5, @Vivek4real_ and @TrendingBitcoin posted substantially the same content with only an 11-second gap. Such behavior allegedly violated platform rules and inflated engagement metrics to fraudulently increase payout amounts.
Consequences and Financial Impact on X
X suspended the implicated accounts on August 18, 2024, citing creator revenue-sharing fraud and manipulation. Besides the approximately $278,000 in identified fraudulent payouts, the company anticipates investigation and remediation costs around £75,000 ($100,000), totaling at least £282,384 in losses before interest and legal fees.
Context and Program Changes
The previous creator revenue-sharing program rewarded eligible creators based on user engagement on their posts. To address vulnerabilities and improve content quality, X terminated this program on September 7, 2024, and began rolling out a replacement called Original Content Rewards immediately after.
Why it matters
This lawsuit highlights X's efforts to combat fraud in content monetization and abuse of payout programs. Schemes that artificially inflate engagement undermine trust in platform mechanisms supporting creators and cause financial harm. The legal actions taken by X demonstrate its commitment to fair usage policies and protecting the financial interests of both the platform and its users. The termination and replacement of the revenue-sharing program further indicate ongoing development of tools to mitigate fraud and maintain transparency on the platform.
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