Elon Musk has revealed yet another surprising detail about X, formerly Twitter. There has been a growing list of unpopular decisions taken by the Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp. leader regarding social media platforms. During a live-streamed conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk said X is preparing to become a paid platform.
In the discussion, Musk mentioned his belief that “vast armies of bots” have overrun X. He thinks requiring users to pay a small monthly fee is the only effective way to reduce bot accounts. Musk explained that while bots are cheap to operate, enforcing a fee of a few dollars per bot would make running fake accounts too costly.
While an exact price wasn’t announced, Musk hinted all X users may need to register a payment method and pay periodically to keep accessing the service. The current Twitter Blue premium membership would likely be replaced with this new subscription model.
A timeline for the switch wasn’t provided. As Musk often shares plans early, it may be a while before user fees are fully implemented. It’s unclear if the 550 million monthly users will stay if X becomes exclusively paid. Alternatives like Mastodon could see a boost if access is no longer free.
In summary, charging users each month is Musk’s idea to reduce spam bots plaguing X. But it remains to be seen if most tweeters will keep funding the platform. Only time will tell how this payment proposal impacts X’s future!
