X, formerly known as Twitter, has taken a notable step to further its fight against bots. After Elon Musk announced that he was considering converting X into a paid social network, a mandatory fee structure is already being implemented in some countries.
The first to announce the news was the business magazine Fortune. In an article published by Kylie Robison, the journalist reported that X was going to charge new users $1 per year to have the ability to post, repost and quote on the platform.
Testing has already begun in New Zealand and the Philippines. There, the article explained, new users would have to pay the $1 annual fee to be able to interact on the social network. However, those who already had an account would continue to enjoy free use. The platform itself confirmed this report hours later:
Starting today, we're testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected.
This…
— Support (@Support) October 17, 2023
Minutes after the news was confirmed, Musk assured that reading content will continue to be free. New users will only have to pay the $1 fee if they want to write or interact on the platform:
Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users.
This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2023
