Elon Musk‘s social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced that it will begin charging new users $1 a year to post, like, and interact with content.
The move is aimed at combating bots and spam on the platform. The subscription model, called “Not a Bot,” will be tested in New Zealand and the Philippines. Existing users will not be impacted during the test.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, has been vocal about his desire to combat bots and spammers on the platform. In a statement released by Elon, users who create new accounts will verify their account with their phone number and then pay $1 USD. They will then be able to use key features like posting, liking, replying to, reposting, bookmarking, and quoting posts.
“So far, subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale,” the statement read.
New users who opt out of the subscription will be relegated to “read only” functions, such as reading posts, watching videos, and following accounts.
X already offers paid subscriptions of $8 a month as part of its X Premium program, formerly known as Twitter Blue, which awards accounts with a blue checkmark badge and several additional abilities, such as editing posts and exceeding character limits. Unlike the Premium program, however, “Not a Bot” is not designed to be a profit driver, the company said.
Musk, since he took over Twitter, has made drastic changes to the platform, including renaming it and reducing its workforce, including its content moderation team.
