On January 15, 2026, the platform X (formerly Twitter) banned apps that reward users for publishing content under its updated anti-spam policy. The decision was announced by X’s head of product, Nikita Bier.
According to him, the company will no longer allow services to pay users for posting on the social network — a practice he referred to as InfoFi. Bier noted that such mechanics led to a sharp increase in AI-generated content and reply spam.
As part of the changes, X revoked API access for the relevant apps, effectively disconnecting them from the platform. He also added that the user experience should improve “when the bots realize they are no longer being paid.”
The restrictions affected projects in the InfoFi (information finance) segment — platforms that monetize attention and activity on social media. Under such models, users receive tokens, points, or other forms of rewards for creating content and engaging with it. Essentially, InfoFi turns audience attention into a tradable asset.
In 2025, Post-to-Earn projects became widespread in the community, but they faced criticism throughout the period. Skeptics pointed out that a focus on rewards incentivizes an increase in the number of posts at the expense of their quality, and contributes to a rise in bots and low-quality content.
Among the best-known projects in the sector are Kaito with its Yaps product and Cookie DAO with its Snaps platform. Both rewarded participants for activity on X, which quickly led to “farming” metrics. Users began resorting to neural networks to generate repetitive replies and comments.
X’s new policy effectively undermines the very foundation of how InfoFi applications operate, as they need the platform’s API to automatically track posts and engagement. They recorded posts and replies, measured reach through likes and reposts, built rankings, and used them to calculate rewards.
Importantly, reliance on the X API went beyond direct payouts for posting. A number of InfoFi services, such as cookie.fun, used the social network as a data source — for trend analysis, narrative monitoring, sentiment assessment, and automated publication of analytical content.
A market sentiment dashboard for digital assets. Data: cookie.fun.
Soon after Beer’s statement, the Kaito team announced the shutdown of Yaps, calling it a forced decision under the new conditions, and introduced a new product — Kaito Studio. Cookie DAO, in turn, reported that it was disabling the Snaps platform and halting all campaigns under which authors were paid for content.
Smaller-scale InfoFi projects also paused campaigns and reward accruals without detailed statements, effectively putting their products “on pause” while awaiting clarification of further terms.
However, given that InfoFi app developers were explicitly advised to consider migrating to alternative platforms such as Threads or Bluesky, X does not plan to revisit its decision.
KAITO price action after X’s announcement. Data: CoinGecko. 
COOKIE price action after X’s announcement. Data: CoinGecko.
Price dynamics of the main tokens in the InfoFi sector. Data: CoinGecko.
