Curator fair play: what gets flagged and removed

The program stays fair because everything that scores is checked, and gaming it costs more than it earns.

Every post wears the paid partnership label

X's Paid Partnerships Policy requires the label on sponsored posts, and that is what curator posts are, kit or not, link or not. Posts without it are flagged and earn nothing. How to turn it on.

Real people only

A scanner runs every hour and flags:

• bursts of clicks from one country or network
• traffic with no referrer
• clicks from data centres and hosting networks
• the same visitor switching browsers to look like several people
• bought engagement and click farms

Flagged clicks and posts go to review. Excluded ones earn nothing. Gaming the campaign can also cost you on Ethos itself: negative reviews, or a slash from the Ethos team.

Posts that are clearly negative about Ethos earn nothing

Calling Ethos a scam, telling people to stay away, or using it to harass someone. Questions, mixed takes and criticism of a feature all count as normal. A post held back goes to review, where a person can count it after all.

Image and video posts

Some curators' photo and video posts that don't mention Ethos in words are held for review and shown as "waiting for review" on My stats. A person counts or dismisses them.

Your score has to hold

Earning pauses while your Ethos score is under 1300 and resumes when it recovers. Your reach points stay and your link keeps working. Scores are rechecked every few hours.

What doesn't count, even when honest

• Your own replies, one-word replies, and generic replies like "lol" or "paid?"
• A second engagement from the same person on the same post
• Replies from accounts scoring under 1400 or with no Ethos profile

See How reach points are earned for the full scoring.