X Adds Auto Lock Rule For First Time Crypto Posts

X is changing the first step, not the cleanup. Instead of waiting for a hacked account to post a scam token and then reacting, the platform says it will lock that account the moment it tries to post about crypto for the first time and force verification before the post can go through.

Good to Know

• X Head of Product Nikita Bier said the platform is implementing auto-locking and verification for first-time crypto posts.
• Bier tied the change to phishing emails used to hijack accounts and push fake token promotions.
• He also said that if an account with more than 10,000 followers suddenly drops a meme coin with no crypto history, “it is always a hack.”

X Tries To Break The Scam Playbook Earlier

The idea starts with a pattern scammers keep repeating. A normal account gets hijacked, the timeline suddenly flips to crypto, and followers get hit with meme coin posts, fake airdrops, or phishing replies before anyone can react. X now wants to choke that sequence at the posting stage.

Bier laid out the logic in blunt terms. If an account has no history of crypto posts and then suddenly starts promoting a token, X will treat that as a major red flag. He wrote that the platform is “in the process of implementing auto-locking + verification if a user posts about cryptocurrency for the first time in the history of their account,” adding that it “should kill 99% of the incentive.”

The trigger for the change was not theoretical. Bier made the comments while responding to a hack victim who had been caught by a phishing email designed to look like an official X copyright notice. After the victim entered credentials on a fake login page, the account was taken and used for crypto scam content. Bier blamed phishing delivery in part on Gmail filters failing to stop the messages before they landed.

That makes the new feature less about crypto itself and more about account takeovers. In Bier view, the scam economy weakens if stolen profiles cannot instantly post a token to thousands of followers. He later added another clear threshold, saying that when an account with more than 10,000 followers drops a meme coin without prior crypto ties, that profile is almost certainly compromised.

X is not starting from zero here. The platform has already dealt with fake token promotions, mass mention spam, and earlier enforcement against banned crypto scammers who allegedly tried to bribe their way back onto the site. The new rule adds a prevention layer rather than another after-the-fact takedown cycle.

For legitimate crypto projects, game studios, NFT teams, and token communities, the tradeoff is obvious. First-time posters may hit extra friction. Yet X is betting that one more verification step is a smaller problem than letting hijacked accounts keep cashing in on audience trust. That part is still untested, but the target is easy to read: shut the window before the scam post ever appears.