X Elon Musk will charge new users in New Zealand and the Philippines
Elon Musk’s X platform will charge new users $1 a year for access to key social network features. This is reported by The Fortune, citing sources.
The company will start charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines. This will be one of the most significant changes since its acquisition by Elon Musk almost a year ago.
The company confirmed the information about the fee for new users. It explained this step as a way to curb the spread of bots and spam on the platform, not as a desire to make money.
The annual fee will give users access to, for example, the ability to write posts, reply to them, and quote them. It is not yet clear whether and when the initiative will be introduced for people from other countries.
According to Elon Musk, users will be able to read the platform for free, but they will have to pay a specified amount for the opportunity to write on it.
“It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users,” he emphasized. “This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.”
Recently, users of the X platform were able to block replies to their posts from free accounts.