The first beneficiaries appear to be string of high profile far right influencers who tweeted before the announcement how much they’ve earned as part of the program. Ian Miles Cheong, Benny Johnson, and Ashley St. Claire all touted their earnings
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“Wow. Elon Musk wasn’t kidding. Content monetization is real,” tweeted an anonymous account called End Wokeness, with 1.4 million followers, accompanied by a screenshot showing earnings of over $10,400.
So far, the influencers who have publicly revealed that they’re part of the program are prominent figures on the right. Andrew Tate, for example, who was recently released from jail on rape and human trafficking charges, posted that he’d been paid over $20,000 by Twitter.
Side note, the author, @taylorlorenz, just got called a liar by Musk, further reinforcing the story’s veracity.
It’s worth noting, I think, that Substack has a similar problem with this (& had it even prior to Musk Twitter). I mention this not to diminish how bad Twitter’s doing so is, but because I know that some folks were looking to Substack as an alternative to Twitter for continuing to follow some people or to post to instead.
For whatever reason it seems like Substack’s managed to carry on without as many people aware of this or acknowledging it even if they are.