X (formerly Twitter), has announced plans to start charging new users a $1 annual subscription fee, to be able to post tweets, repost, and reply, amongst others.
This means that users who are unwilling to pay the fee will only be able to view posts and follow accounts.
On Tuesday, X on its support page announced in a post that the new unverified users in New Zealand and the Philippines will be required to pay $1 a year, adding that existing accounts are not affected.
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X wrote,
“Starting today, we’re testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected.
“This new test was developed to bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. It is not a profit driver. And so far, subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale”.
The company said that the move to charge new subscribers is in its efforts to reduce spam and not activity while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount, adding that it is not a profit driver.
Excess bot activity has been a plaguing issue on X for a very long time before Musk’s takeover in October 2022.
According to a data analysis firm hired by Elon Musk during his initial plan to purchase X, he alleged that spam and fake accounts were more prevalent on X than on comparable social platforms.
Bots on X later became central to the dispute over Musk’s initial attempt to get out of the acquisition deal. Less than three months after signing the deal, and waiving due diligence in the process, Musk moved to terminate the agreement, citing claims that X had misstated the number of bots on its platform.
Since his takeover, Bot’s activity has reportedly worsened, which has seen him implement many decisions to combat their presence on the microblogging platform such as charging users for Twitter Blue.
Charging new users an annual fee isn’t Musk’s first attempt to make X a paywalled service, and probably won’t be the last. X already limits the number of posts non-paying users can see on their timeline, and it’s blocked non-users from seeing any content whatsoever.