X said it was adding video editing and recording features as it tries to encourage creators to post original content on the platform instead of reposted material.
The update includes tools to overlay video captions in multiple languages and customize their appearance, as well as green-screen features that work with photos from a phone’s camera roll or other X posts.
“One of our biggest priorities is to give creators the tools to create original content [and] reward those creators,” X head of product Nikita Bier wrote in a post. “We have plenty more updates coming to the video editor in the coming weeks.”
Bier said the goal was to provide a “functional” video editor so some videos on X can “finally be original content that doesn’t exist on other platforms.” He said many posts from top X accounts contain stolen material, sometimes years after the content first went viral.
X also does not offer built-in tools for creators to report stolen work and take action, unlike protections offered by Meta for Reels creators and by YouTube for unauthorized reuploads.
Bier also linked the upgrade to X’s bot problem, saying in April that the company was identifying and suspending “208 bots per minute and growing.” Before that, he said half of X’s product team was focused on features to reduce spam.
He said reposted content has a “negative impact on the user experience and the business.” He also said posts with video account for close to half of impressions on X.
Other platforms have also said they are dealing with more spam and bot activity. Reddit recently said it was implementing artificial intelligence tools to address spam and bot content tied to large language models. Digg shut down its app earlier this year, saying it lacked the resources to combat spam as a startup.
Bier said the video editor and recorder were initially available on X’s iOS app, while the Android app was still being rebuilt.