Ex-Twitter owner plans subscription for users
The imposition of a subscription on the users of X, the platform previously known as Twitter, seems to be planned by Elon Musk, if what he said is true.
As the CEO of Tesla and owner of X said in his discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, a payment system is the only way to deal with accounts that do not correspond to real persons (i.e. from bots) on the platform.
“We are moving towards having a small monthly payment for using the system,” Mr Musk said, according to the BBC.
So far, it's unclear whether this was an on-air comment from Musk or a revelation of plans that are moving forward but not yet officially announced.
Mr. Musk is known to be fighting bots and fake accounts after it bought Twitter, while it has long said the solution is for the platform to charge for account verification.
Since acquiring Twitter, the billionaire entrepreneur has been trying to incentivize users to pay for an improved service, now called X Premium. Subscribers have more features, such as longer posts and increased visibility on the platform. However, users can still use X for free.
“A bot costs a fraction of a penny to make. But if someone has to pay a few dollars or something, some small amount, the actual cost for bots is very high,” explained Mr. Musk.
X Premium currently costs $8 ( 7.5 euros) per month in the USA. The price varies depending on the country a subscriber is in.
As Mr. Musk stated, he is looking for cheaper options for users. “We are actually going to end up with a lower pricing level. So we just want it to be a small amount of money.”
“That's a bigger discussion, but in my view, that's really the only defense against the massive bot armies,” he added.< /p>
