X Sues Two Bitcoin Influencers Over Alleged Bot Network

X is suing two UK-based users accused of running a network of accounts that manipulated engagement on the platform to collect creator payouts.

The lawsuit, filed in London’s High Court on September 17, names Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa, and other unidentified people. X alleges that the group operated six accounts as a coordinated network, posting Bitcoin-related content and artificially boosting engagement to qualify for payments from its now-defunct Creator Revenue Sharing program.

According to the complaint, the accounts posted identical or nearly identical content within seconds or minutes of each other and regularly liked and reposted one another’s posts. In one example cited by X, two accounts posted the same Bitcoin message and chart just two minutes apart.

The accounts were enrolled in Creator Revenue Sharing between 2023 and 2026. The program paid creators a share of advertising revenue based on engagement and required accounts to have an X Premium subscription, at least five million impressions over three months, and 500 verified followers.

X also alleges that the operators used Stripe accounts and bank details registered under different names to receive the payouts. The company says one Stripe profile was registered to a person named Stefan Mann, while the associated bank account and email address were linked to Sen.

The social media platform suspended nine accounts connected to the alleged network on August 18. The company is seeking at least £207,384 ($278,000) that it says the defendants obtained through the scheme, along with damages, interest, legal costs, and more than £75,000 in investigation expenses. No defense had been filed as of September 21.

X shut down its Creator Revenue Sharing program on September 7 and replaced it with Original Content Rewards, which excludes artificially generated engagement from payouts.