X added a clipping tool that lets users cut a moment from someone else’s video and post it with commentary. Both the clipper and the original creator can earn from it.
According to TechCrunch, earnings run through Original Content Rewards, X’s rewards programme for eligible creators. Both must be enrolled to be paid, and X’s help page says clip earnings arrive in regular payouts from the first one after launch. X hasn’t published payout rates or a split between the two.
Grab your favorite moment from any video, add your take, and post it without leaving X
X, in a post announcing the feature
X’s help page says a clip runs between 5 and 60 seconds, and can be no more than 30% of the original video. Only pre-recorded videos of at least two minutes can be clipped, and livestreams are off limits for now. Every clip carries a “Clip from” label that links back to the original, so viewers can find the source. Creators can’t switch clipping off for their videos yet, though X says it’s working on an option. If an original video is deleted, its clips go with it.
On Monday, 9 November, X announced the tool. Clipping is live in the iOS and Android apps, with web coming soon, and X says access may vary by region and app version. TechCrunch says the tool “appears to be little more than a straightforward video-trimming feature”. What sets it apart from the outside clipping firms that influencers often pay to cut their videos is the payout.
The launch fits a pattern. X introduced long-form video in 2022 to take on YouTube and added exclusive threads in March. In July it opened a live-streaming studio and put up $1 million for creators who go live.
Other platforms are also chasing creator video. YouTube is testing in-app video sharing in DMs. Disney and TikTok struck a short-form video deal that brings fan-made videos to Disney+ and Disney characters to TikTok creators. With clipping, X is betting that a long video can keep earning for its maker after others cut it up.
