New users of X will be charged $1 annually, says Elon Musk

Elon Musk said on Wednesday that new X users would have to pay $1 per year to publish on the platform in order to combat bots, even if they may read other postings for free.

Before launching the new program internationally, the business is testing it in New Zealand and the Philippines.

New users in New Zealand and the Philippines will have to pay $1 to open accounts on X.

“Reading is free; writing costs $1 per year. It’s the best approach to combat bots without obstructing legitimate users, Musk said in a post.

“Bots won’t be completely stopped by this, but it will be 1000X more difficult to manipulate the platform,” he said.

This, according to X, was done to combat bots and will be tested in these nations.

The new action, which is a component of the “Not A Bot” campaign, is meant to “bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity,” according to X.

If they choose not to subscribe, new users will only be allowed to do “read-only” operations, such perusing posts and watching videos.

This new program is in addition to X’s primary membership, which costs $8 per month and is confirmed.

In order to increase revenue and achieve profitability by 2024, X (previously Twitter) is also apparently aiming to divide its premium paid subscription service into three membership categories.

The $8 Premium membership would reportedly be divided into three separate options called Basic, Standard, and Plus, each with a different pricing.

Users will continue to view as many adverts as before with the free Basic plan.

The highest Plus premium tier, which may cost more than $8 a month and remove all ads, will display half as many ads as the Standard tier.