New users of Twitter/X will have to pay a temporary fee to use the platform, under plans floated by Elon Musk.
The billionaire said that the change may be necessary in order to combat the problem of bots on the site.
“Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots,” he wrote in a post on X.“Current AI (and troll farms) can pass ‘are you a bot’ with ease. The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result.”
Last year X launched a pilot scheme in New Zealand and the Philippines which required new users to pay $1 a year to post, like, bookmark and reply on the platform. Following or browsing accounts on the platform was free.
Musk’s comments suggest that the trial is to be rolled out more widely, with the fee in place for the first three months after a user joins the platform.
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Eradicating fake and bot accounts has been a key priority for Musk since taking over the platform in late 2022. However, many users have reported an increase in spam content, in part due to Musk’s substantial cutbacks to staff, including the content moderation team.
Under Musk’s tenure, X has introduced a subscription called Premium, which enables users to pay to be verified and gives them features such as increased visibility.
Some believe that despite being aimed at reducing bots, it has enabled spam content to gain greater visibility.
Any new fee would also help X’s financial position after an exodus of advertisers worried about a looser content moderation policy under Musk.
