X sues two men over alleged Bitcoin bot network and creator payouts

X is suing Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa and other unidentified persons in a United Kingdom High Court complaint filed September 17 over an alleged coordinated bot network that manipulated engagement on Bitcoin-related content to obtain Creator Revenue Sharing payouts. X alleges that six accounts, including @Vivek4real_, @saylordocs and @TrendingBitcoin, operated as one network between 2023 and 2026 by cross-posting identical content, liking one another's posts and copying posts and replies. One example cited in the complaint involved two accounts allegedly posting the same sentence and chart two minutes apart on October 10, 2025. Creator Revenue Sharing paid a share of advertising revenue based on likes, replies and reposts. Eligibility required an X Premium subscription, five million impressions over three months and 500 verified followers. X alleges that the accounts used multiple bank accounts and that linked Stripe information did not match the people posting. It says one account listed Stefan Mann on its Stripe profile, while the linked bank account and email traced back to Sen. X also alleges that Sen sought to recruit other high-follower accounts and quoted a message in which he referred to continuing through another channel to avoid trouble over conduct X did not allow. James Burnham, X and xAI's general counsel, confirmed the filing and said the people had abused Creator Revenue Sharing by operating coordinated accounts, posting inauthentic content and using multiple bank accounts. X suspended all nine accounts on August 18. Its complaint cites an Authenticity Policy that prohibits activity intended to manipulate the platform or disrupt its services through inauthentic accounts, behavior or content. The suit claims deceit, unjust enrichment and unlawful means conspiracy, and X asserts a constructive trust over the money. X seeks the return of $278,000, plus damages, interest and legal costs, as well as at least £75,000 it says it spent investigating. The case is proceeding under claim number BL-2026-001161, and no defense had been filed as of September 21. X shut down Creator Revenue Sharing on September 7, 2026, and replaced it with Original Content Rewards, which excludes artificially generated engagement from payouts.