Fleshspoter - X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, officially launched a new video editor and Recorder feature on its iOS app. The move is the latest strategy X has taken to encourage creators to produce original videos directly on the platform instead of re-uploading stolen material from other services. The launch of this feature departs from the statement of former CEO Linda Yaccarino in 2024 who said X is now shifting to a platform that prioritizes video. Since then, various updates began to be rolled out to realize the vision.
This update brings the ability to add video captions that can be translated into many languages with visual styles that can be changed. From the typeface to the background color, all elements of the subtitle display can be customized directly within the application. This convenience is an added value for creators who want their content to be enjoyed by the global market.
In addition, there is a green screen feature that allows users to change the background of the video using photos from the phone gallery or other uploads in X. Nikita Bier, head of Product X, stated that the development of this tool is a top priority to equip creators with the means to create original works and there will be further updates in the coming weeks.
The launch of this video editor is not solely to emulate competitors like TikTok, but is driven by internal data that shows video content accounts for almost half of the total views on X. Bier revealed that many peak accounts at X often upload stolen material, some even up to five years old after they first went viral. This phenomenon of recycled content is considered to have a negative impact on the user experience and business continuity of the platform.
Despite bringing new features, X still faces major challenges in creating a healthy creator ecosystem. Compared to Meta and YouTube, which have mature monetization and intellectual property protection systems, X does not yet have a powerful tool for creators to report stolen content. Bier has also previously criticised the approach of top content creators such as MrBeast, which he sees as too oriented towards financial rewards.
The issue of robots or bots is also a serious homework for X. In April, Bier revealed that it identified and suspended more than 200 bots per minute, and half of the product team was focused on tackling spam. The presence of bots on X not only artificially hoists up impression numbers, but also exacerbates the problem of content theft. The process of scraping or Automatic Data Retrieval carried out by bots makes creator's work easier to be stolen and disseminated without permission. As a result, the harm to original content creators is even greater as they lose control over the distribution of their work. This spam phenomenon has become an industry challenge, where Reddit has begun to apply artificial intelligence to overcome it.
On the other hand, the increase in original video content in X also has a link with the company's artificial intelligence development ambitions. xAI, an AI company owned by Elon Musk, is known to be developing a video model called Grok Imagine that is trained using public content on X. The more original videos uploaded, the richer the training data available to the AI model. With this update, X seeks to create added value through a better creator ecosystem while strengthening the data foundation for its AI products.
Currently, the new video editor feature is only available for iOS users, while the Android version is still in the process of rebuilding. X is committed to continuously adding new features to this video editor in the coming weeks to support creators produce exclusive content not found on other platforms. The move is part of X's long-term effort to rebrand the platform, which has been known as a place to share links and short text, into a major destination for video content.
The success of this strategy relies heavily on X's ability to solve fundamental problems such as bots and copyright protection, which are still the main complaints of creators. If the copyright protection system is not adequate, the creators will certainly think twice about making X as the main channel of publication of their work. But on the other hand, X's consistency in delivering updates gradually shows that they really want to build a sustainable creator ecosystem. The big question is whether this effort is powerful enough to attract the attention of creators who are currently comfortable sheltering on a much more mature and tested competitor platform.
Source: TechCrunch, Engadget, Social Media Today