I would much prefer this than giving money to individuals and watch them walk away into the night

I would either.

The best marketing for a social media platform that pays for content is to pay for content well.

Individuals who say “I earn 1000$ a month with my content” will attract thousands of people. That’s how "centralized Hive", Medium.Com, works - the best authors earn thousands $, the rest dream to be like them. As a result, 1 million people pay a 5$ subscription fee monthly (2024), many more use it for free.