X, formerly Twitter, announced today that new users in New Zealand and the Philippines (for now) will have to pay $1 annually.
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Elon Musk brings annual $1 subscription to X
Elon Musk’s latest initiative to reduce ‘bots’ on the Twitter website and application now means that new users have to $1 annually when creating their accounts.
The subscription, part of a so-called “Not A Bot” program, is beginning in those two countries and is designed to “bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity,” the company said on Wednesday in an unsigned post on its help center.
However, the post does not explain why the new subscription is only for new users joining via the web and not the mobile app, or why “Not a Bot” is only being rolled out in two countries, and if the feature will be introduced anywhere else soon.
According to the company, “New users who opt out of subscribing will only be able to take ‘read only’ actions,” such as viewing posts and watching videos, according to the company.
Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2023
This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.
This new program is in addition to the application’s premium program, which costs $8 per month. X Premium, formerly known as Twitter Blue, is a paid subscription service that provides several features for individual users, including verification, and the ability to edit tweets.
It’s yet to be seen how users respond to the latest update. It can also be a part of Musk’s plan to start making a profit from X. The website has never turned an annual profit in its first 13 years, and it has struggled to maintain profitability since then.
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