In a long-awaited move to clean up spam and bot-driven content, X (formerly Twitter) announced Thursday that it has revoked API access for apps that pay users to post, effectively banning incentive-based InfoFi platforms. 

“Your X experience should start improving soon (once the bots realize they’re not getting paid anymore),” wrote X product lead Nikita Bier, adding that InfoFi projects had led to a “tremendous amount of AI slop and reply spam.”

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The announcement had immediate ripple effects. The token of Kaito, one of the largest InfoFi platforms, dropped over 14%, and the company quickly announced it would shut down its Yaps and incentivized leaderboards, pivoting instead to a more curated platform: Kaito Studio.

Founder Yu Hu said the change reflects both X’s policy shift and a broader evolution in crypto marketing. “It’s agreed that a permissionless distribution model is no longer viable,” Hu wrote. Kaito Studio will prioritize quality creators, cross-platform reach, and analytics-driven marketing.

Meanwhile, Xeet, another InfoFi-adjacent platform, confirmed that all campaigns have stopped and it is assessing its next steps. While not directly identifying as InfoFi, Xeet acknowledged it was affected by the change and promised further communication.

The change is a welcome one for many, signaling a broader move away from algorithm-choking spam and toward higher-quality, user-first engagement in the crypto social space.

Podcast host Gwart had a funny thing to say about it: