Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik decided to see which words on Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) are demonetized. For creators on Twitter getting paid, this is very useful information. Currently, the list is a mystery and a risk to users it could interfere with their income from the platform.

Raichik performed these experiments, posting various words to see whether or not ads would appear. What she's discovered — at least so far — are words that you would assume would be demonetized by advertisers in the modern era, though none of them should be.

This includes words like "drag queen" and "porn," as well as "groomer" and "LGBTQ." Bizarrely, Raichek also discovered the words "police" and "ugly" were demonetized, and shockingly the words "amen" and "innocent" are also on the chopping block. 

BREAKING: Here is a full list of words I have confirmed through my research that will demonetize you:

1. Dr*g qu**n
2. P**n
3. Gr**m*er
4. In*0c**ce/in*0ce*t
5. Tr*ns
6. L*B*Q
7. P0I*ce
8. N*n-bl**ry
9. Ug*y
10. Am*n

Please share! will continue updating as I discover more!

— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) September 28, 2023

After some experimentation, Raichik also found that just posting photos of drag queens was enough to get demonetized. 

Testing… pic.twitter.com/65VIOWDLos

— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) September 28, 2023

Later on, during a conversation about anti-semitism on X's Spaces with the Daily Wire and Ben Shapiro, X CEO Elon Musk brought up Raichik's findings, making it clear that "the list needs to be trimmed." 

Musk said that none of these demonetizations were maliciously put there recently by him or his staff, saying that it's more along the lines of incompetence from the previous owners that they're still trying to fix today. He did, however, add that advertisers are very skittish and can be scared off from platforms very easily, which is why there are likely so many words in place to be demonetized. 

HOLY SH*T! Elon name dropped me in his Twitter Space and said he saw my list of demonetized words that I reported on. Promises to fix it.

“This list needs to be trimmed” - @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/Ap66TQCmMp

— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) September 28, 2023

There's no doubt that Musk is still untangling the Gordian Knot that was the previous owners' codes within X's system. It would appear that new things are being discovered all the time and unraveling over a decade's worth of code is going to take a while. 

That said, it doesn't help that X CEO Linda Yaccarino has promised to limit the reach of people whose speech is "lawful but awful." It's still unclear what that nebulous phrase means and who is deciding what is and isn't "awful." One thing this does make clear is that Musk and X are still making sure they're pretty friendly with advertisers, which could mean constantly ongoing changes as to what words or phrases are considered demonetizable and/or blacklist-worthy.

Sadly, at the end of the day, Musk and X are still at the mercy of advertisers and, until a new idea breaks them free of needing them as much as they do, this trend of demonetizing words will continue and the list will quietly expand. 

I say "quietly" because announcing them would likely set off firestorms of their own. Can you imagine Musk announcing that the word "amen" is demonetizable? 

Still, it would be good practice for Musk's team to go into the list and delete words as they fall in and out of advertisers' bad sides. It would give some confidence to users and would further enforce the idea that Musk does intend to be better than all the other platforms out there.