X revises developer API policies, bans ‘InfoFi’ apps to tackle bot spam

Elon Musk–owned microblogging platform X on Thursday announced a major revision to its developer API policies, targeting a surge in automated and misleading activity linked to so-called “InfoFi” applications.

Confirming the development, X’s head of product Nikita Bier said apps that financially reward users for posting on X will no longer be permitted under the platform’s API terms.



The move comes as X seeks to rein in widespread “reply spam” and AI-generated bot activity that has increasingly degraded the quality of conversations on the platform.

API access has already been cut off for offending apps, and X engineers expect to see an improvement in user timelines “once the bots realise they’re not getting paid anymore,” Bier wrote.

InfoFi refers to social media apps or crypto projects that financially incentivise user engagement, say, paying people or bots to post, reply, or otherwise generate activity on X.

Bier further invited developers whose API access has been terminated to contact X for assistance in transitioning their operations to Meta’s Threads or the decentralised network Bluesky founded by Twitter (now rebranded as X) chief Jack Dorsey.

The Musk-led platform has been facing global backlash over its AI chatbot Grok integrated into X.

Broader scrutiny around X and Grok

X has faced backlash over Grok’s now-restricted “Spicy Mode,” which previously allowed users to generate sexualised deepfake images of women and children using simple text prompts.

California’s attorney general had launched an investigation into xAI over the creation of sexually explicit material, while several countries have either blocked Grok or initiated their own probes.

In response, X said it would “geoblock the ability” of users in certain jurisdictions to create sexualised images where such content is illegal.

“We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis,” X’s safety team said in a statement.

Last week, an analysis of more than 20,000 Grok-generated images by Paris-based non-profit AI Forensics found that over half depicted individuals in minimal attire, the majority of them women with around 2% appearing to be minors.

Musk, however, denied allegations that Grok generated deepfake images of naked minors.

“I (am) not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero. Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images, it does so only according to user requests,” Musk wrote on X, Wednesday.