Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Ethan (@ethanzhang_web3)
On January 22, the X platform updated its "Global Trends" page. Following a series of adjustments around content and incentive mechanisms, Odaily Planet Daily found that the platform has added a separately categorized Meme section. Various memes, fun images, and short videos are centrally presented, allowing users to intuitively see the Meme themes and emotional trends currently spreading inside and outside the platform.
At first glance, this seems more like an entertainment-focused content organization. But when placed within the context of X's recent intensive content governance actions, the emergence of this Meme section appears far from "lightweight."
Within X's product logic, content is being re-stratified: which parts belong to emotional expression, and which are considered information assets. The platform is beginning to provide clearer boundaries through the interface and categorization itself.
It is precisely against this backdrop that X has recently tightened creator incentives and API usage rules, explicitly stating that reply interactions no longer count towards earnings, and ultimately targeting the InfoFi application model that relies on external incentives to drive posts and interactions. Within the crypto community, these changes were quickly interpreted as a signal—the platform will no longer continue to cede space to the "high-interaction, low-information-density" content path.
Judging from the detail of Memes being singled out, X's adjustment is not just about shutting down old mechanisms but is simultaneously building a new content order.
Why Did 'Zui Lu' Fail? X's Answer is More Direct Than 'Throttling'
Over the past week, X, through a series of mutually reinforcing rule adjustments, has indicated that: X is redefining what kind of behavior is worth being valued.
The change is first reflected in the creator revenue rules. On January 19, X's product lead Nikita Bier, in response to user queries, clearly stated that current creator revenue is calculated solely based on content views on the home timeline; exposure generated from replies is no longer counted towards earnings. This almost directly overturns a long-default growth logic—interaction itself no longer holds monetization value.
X Product Lead Nikita Bier responds to user questions on X
Under the new valuation system, whether it's high-frequency replies, concentrated spamming, or maintaining activity with low-effort content like "gm" or "+1", as long as it cannot push content onto the home timeline, it will no longer be considered a valid contribution by the platform.
This change did not occur in isolation. In subsequent explanations, X further elaborated on the logic behind it: the average user can actually browse a very limited amount of content per day. Excessive posting and frequent interaction do not expand influence but instead prematurely consume an account's daily exposure quota. When truly important information needs to be published, the account often has "no quota left."
In other words, in X's judgment, excessive interaction is not being suppressed but is seen as an inefficient or even self-damaging behavior pattern.
This stance also echoes Nikita Bier's previous public criticism of the crypto community. In his view, the decline in the influence of crypto tweets is not due to deliberate suppression by the platform's algorithm but is a result of the community's long-term reliance on low-value interactions leading to self-consumption.
From the result, X did not deny the existence of "Zui Lu" but chose a more direct and calmer way to deal with it: stop paying for this behavior.
When reply views are completely stripped from the incentive system, the content model of "arbitraging interaction" naturally loses its foundation. The so-called "end of the Zui Lu era" is not a targeted purge but an inevitable outcome of the adjustment to the valuation system.
The Real Background of Smart Cashtags: X Wants to Turn 'Market Sentiment' into a Consumable Object
While reshaping creator incentive rules, X is also simultaneously advancing another more directional product path—Smart Cashtags.
According to public statements by X's product lead Nikita Bier, this feature allows users to directly tag specific tokens or smart contracts when posting content related to market trends or assets. Users clicking the tag in their timeline can view the real-time price of the corresponding asset and all related discussion content within the platform. The feature is currently still in the testing and feedback phase, but the official team has clearly stated that Version 1 will be launched and has provided a relatively clear launch expectation (expected next month).
This means that Smart Cashtags are no longer just a proof-of-concept but have entered the final polishing stage before feature finalization.
Related tweet and Smart Cashtags test page
Initially, the community saw it more as a tool to enhance the user experience regarding market trends. But as discussions deepened, the focus of skepticism gradually centered on several more fundamental questions:
— If an asset is not yet listed on major exchanges, does X have reliable data coverage capabilities?
— Will its price and on-chain information rely solely on centralized exchanges?
— Will it further extend to wallet or trade execution layers in the future?
Regarding the first two questions, Nikita Bier gave relatively clear responses. He stated that the API used by X will "be able to process almost anything minted on-chain in real-time," implying that the data source for Smart Cashtags is not limited to centralized trading platforms but has the capability to interface directly with on-chain information.
As for whether it will support self-custody wallets or allow trading execution within X via CEX widgets, he did not respond directly, only brushing it off with a "following" emoji. This deliberately reserved attitude反而 sparked more speculation within the community about X's next moves.
If we place Smart Cashtags back into X's existing strategic trajectory, this "reservation" is not out of place.
In 2025, X had already obtained money transmission licenses in over 40 US states and was simultaneously advancing the compliance construction of the X Money payment system. At that time, these moves were seen more as part of the "Everything App" narrative, still distant from the content ecosystem.
Entering January 2026, the pace of Smart Cashtags' development began to clarify: the feature was first publicly discussed, followed by supplementary details about the API layer, alongside information leaks regarding compliance and legal aspects. By late January, although still in the testing phase, official channels had released clear timing expectations.
Odaily Planet Daily believes this further indicates that Smart Cashtags is not an isolated product attempt but rather that X is pre-laying the infrastructure for the "Content × Finance" interface.
If we consider it alongside adjustments like creator incentive rules and the phasing out of the InfoFi API, its positioning becomes clear: X is not in a hurry to介入 transaction execution itself but is attempting to compress assets, prices, and market sentiment into a single clickable, trackable content node.
Within this structure, the value of content is no longer simply determined by interaction volume but depends on whether it can form a sustained, consumable stream of information and narrative around a certain asset. In this sense, Smart Cashtags are also not a tool prepared for "Zui Lu" but are reserving an entry point for those specific content forms.
After the Algorithm's 'Lid Was Lifted', Exposure Rights Did Not Become More Democratic
Besides Smart Cashtags, another change frequently mentioned recently regarding X is the official open-sourcing of its recommendation algorithm.
In late January, X's engineering team announced that the latest version of the platform's algorithm had been made public, adopting the same Transformer architecture as the Grok model under xAI. Subsequently, Elon Musk直言 stated that the algorithm is still "quite clumsy," but open-sourcing means users can clearly see its optimization path. For a long time, content being throttled or topics being suppressed was often attributed to the "black box algorithm"; algorithmic transparency at least means the rules are no longer hidden, and the path is traceable.
Homepage of the Github repository for X's newly public platform algorithm
However, open-sourcing the algorithm does not mean exposure rights are distributed equally.
Almost simultaneously, X is advancing a systematic upgrade of its "interest discovery" mechanism. The core goal is to allow new accounts to find interesting content faster without a lengthy follow-finding process. When organizing the timeline, the algorithm is shifting from relying on "who you follow" to "what the system thinks you might want to see."
Under this framework, whether content gains exposure depends on two key criteria: Understandability and Consumability.
- Understandability: Clear content structure, complete information, easy for the algorithm to identify and categorize.
- Consumability: Content can be absorbed, understood, and interacted with by users in a short time, forming an effective information flow.
In other words, exposure rights are no longer determined by "interaction volume" but by whether the content can be efficiently identified, distributed, and attract an audience by the system. This marks a shift from the previous model of "who is more active is more visible" to a distribution logic centered on the value of the content itself.
When the platform simultaneously tightens interaction incentives, structures asset narratives, and strengthens interest recommendation mechanisms, a new filtering logic has taken shape. Within such a system, it is no longer surprising that "Zui Lu" is naturally excluded from the mainstream exposure path.
Conclusion: This Isn't Anti-Zui Lu, But a Repricing of Content Value
From the tightening of creator incentive rules and algorithm open-sourcing, to the gradual advancement of Smart Cashtags functionality, and finally to the separate categorization of the Meme section on January 22, X is gradually piecing together a clear path.
Low-value interactions are being stripped away, assets and sentiment are being restructured, algorithms and interest discovery mechanisms are being pushed to the forefront—these adjustments collectively point to one core result: the platform is redefining what kind of content is worth being distributed, valued, and seen.
Under the new order, Memes are categorized as emotional expression, while financial and crypto content is required to have clear structure and directionality; exposure rights shift from "who is more active" to "who is easier to understand and consume." The platform also no longer pays for noise or mere participation.
As analyzed in Odaily Planet Daily's previous article "X Personally Terminates the InfoFi Incentive Model, the Zui Lu Era Concludes," the end of the Zui Lu era is not the终点 but the first perceptible signal of the restructuring of X's content value system. As the new rules land, the platform is building a value system that favors the content itself rather than interactive behaviors.
For creators and the industry, this means: gaining visibility on X in the future will no longer depend on quantity but on whether the content can be recognized by algorithms, absorbed by the audience, and form sustainable value. This new order is both a reclamation of platform sovereignty and a profound reshaping of the content ecosystem.
Related Links:
《Deconstructing X's New Algorithm: The Ultimate Guide to Content Prospecting in 2026》
《X's New Algorithm Exposed: Likes Are Almost Worthless, This Action's Value Soars 150x》
《X Personally Terminates the InfoFi Incentive Model, the Zui Lu Era Concludes》
