New Delhi: X, Elon Musk’s new social media platform, has brought a lawsuit in Vietnam against eight people who are alleged to have organised click fraud. In the lawsuit, it is alleged that the group used the Creator Revenue Sharing Program to create fake views and comments. Using others’ identities and automated tools, the defendants made numerous fake accounts to increase X’s engagement metrics and cause the company to distribute money it should not have.

The complaint explains that the group was located in a small office in Hanoi and used automated systems to boost the numbers of those engaging with their posts. X claims this scheme not only took money from the platform but also threatened the platform’s goal of keeping conversations genuine. The company has filed a lawsuit for damages and an order to stop the group’s activities, taking a major step in Musk’s effort to stop engagement farming.

Details of the alleged fraud

Eight Vietnamese individuals—Le Dinh Chung, Nguyen Nhu Duc, Do Viet Khanh, Nguyen Viet Kieu, Do Xuan Long, Do Minh Thang, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh and Phan Ngoc Tuan—are named in the lawsuit as main players in the scheme. Based on the court documents, the group used automated tools to make it look like many people were interacting, sending money to more than 125 accounts created with stolen personal details. X says they also sold these scams, including the XGPT product, on YouTube and Telegram, making the fraud even bigger.

Impact on X’s revenue-sharing programme

In 2022, after Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion, X launched its Creator Revenue Sharing Program for premium users, enabling them to earn money according to how much their posts are engaged with. Ad revenue was the first source, but after advertisers left over moderation concerns, the program started rewarding premium users who interacted directly. This lawsuit emphasises that the Vietnamese group made use of the system, with X estimating they received around $8 for every million impressions. This case highlights the difficulties of making money from engagement without risking fraud.

Musk’s crackdown on engagement farming

Elon Musk has promised to take action against engagement farming since it misleads users about the authenticity of the platform. In April 2024, he made clear that accounts that used deceptive methods would be suspended. Suing the Vietnamese group is one of many steps taken to safeguard X’s reputation. Experts believe that offering money in exchange for engagement encourages fake accounts, which continues to be a challenge for the platform. The lawsuit filed by X aims to stop similar schemes and collect losses from what it describes as “thousands of predicate racketeering acts” since 2023.