In a surprising move, social media giant X has verified its intentions to implement a subscription fee for its new users. The company recently divulged details regarding their new subscription venture, named “Not a Bot”, which is currently under pilot testing in the Philippines and New Zealand.
A Subscription to Counter Bots and Spam
The freshly introduced subscription will mandate newcomers to shed roughly $1 USD annually to engage in posting activities. X articulates, “From October 17th, 2023, our trials for ‘Not A Bot’ have begun in two countries. This innovative approach is our endeavour to fortify our existing measures against spam, platform manipulation, and bots. With a nominal fee, we aim to strike a balance between platform accessibility and its effective policing.”
Impact on New User Experience
Under this new framework, to fully exploit features such as tweets, retweets, bookmarks, and likes, novices are compelled to authenticate their mobile numbers and remit the $1 subscription fee. Non-subscribers will find their access limited, restricting them to a “read-only” version of X.
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Existing Users Remain Unaffected
X is keen to emphasize that their current clientele will remain exempted from these charges. They stated, “Our goal isn’t revenue generation from this initiative.” However, such a move could spark discussions regarding the potential of X eyeing a broader subscription model in the future.
Musk’s Vision for X’s Future
During a recent interactive session with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, business magnate Elon Musk hinted at the possibility of incorporating obligatory payments to address bot and spam concerns. X further elaborated on its support platform, “Subscription models have emerged as the most viable large-scale solutions.” This assertion, compounded by Musk’s previous statements, led to a noticeable uptick in activity on X’s competitor, Bluesky.
There’s also chatter about Musk’s vision for X, suggesting an ulterior motive – a keen interest in obtaining user billing data to augment X’s potential ventures into the financial sector. Musk’s aspirations, as described by biographer Walter Isaacson, involve transforming X into an “everything app”, a vision slightly derailed upon discovering Apple’s reservations about sharing credit card details.
