X takes legal action against accounts manipulating engagement to earn more money

X has sued two individuals accused of manipulating engagement across six accounts to earn money through its Creator Revenue Sharing Programme. The lawsuit alleges they received more than £206,000, with X seeking to recover the money and claim damages.X accuses two individuals of using six accounts to artificially boost engagement.X has taken legal action against individuals it accuses of manipulating engagement on the platform to earn money through its Creator Revenue Sharing Programme. According to the company, these defendants operated a network of accounts, artificially boosted engagement and used multiple financial accounts to hide their activities.James Burnham, General Counsel of X and xAI, announced the legal action in a post on X. He said “We do not tolerate fraudulent behavior on X -- and will act forcefully to protect our platform and the earnings of genuine creators.” The lawsuit was filed by X Internet Unlimited Company and X Corp in the High Court of Justice in England and Wales. According to the complaint, the defendants received more than £206,000 (around Rs 2.64 Crore) through what X describes as a coordinated revenue-sharing fraud.The company named two people, Vivek Kumar Sen and Zamyang Sherpa, and says there may be others behind the network it hasn't identified yet. On paper, they ran a small crypto news operation on X, six accounts that all seemed independently obsessed with Bitcoin. In reality, according to a fresh lawsuit filed in court, it was just them, talking to themselves.How the trick workedFor instance, one account would post something like "BREAKING: $3 TRILLION GOLDMAN SACHS CEO JUST URGED THE U.S TO PASS BITCOIN LEGISLATION” and within minutes – sometimes seconds – an "unrelated" account would post the exact same thing. Court filings show this happening over and over, same chart, same caps-lock headline, same typos, published a heartbeat apart. To make the whole thing look alive, three more accounts existed only to reply comments like "Bullish," "Legend," and "Massive." And X's Creator Revenue Sharing Programme works based on engagement. So, fake urgency and fake applause are equal to real payment or real money. This is how the suit says the two individuals pulled in payouts into six figures.How they got caughtOne account's payment details were registered to a "Stefan Mann," but the bank account behind it belonged to Vivek Kumar Sen. Another account was registered to Sherpa, but the linked email address traced straight back to Sen. Two of the accounts even listed billing addresses in Delaware, a small Mid-Atlantic state in the United States, despite both men actually living in Preston. Basically, six different online personalities kept accidentally sharing one wallet. At one point, Sen messaged someone offering to buy their large X account, then asked to move the conversation to a different, encrypted app “I don't want us to get in trouble for something X doesn't allow. If you can understand what I mean,” the suit mentioned.X suspended the whole network on 18 August this year and is now suing for the money back, plus damages, on grounds including fraud and breach of contract.This isn't the first time X has gone after engagement farms. Back in June last year, the company sued eight people running a click farm out of Hanoi, Vietnam for the same trick – fake accounts, fake engagement, real payouts.- EndsPublished On: Sep 21, 2026 12:19 IST