Elon Musk has kicked off his plan to charge users of X, formerly known as Twitter, to post content to the social network.
A new report published on Fortune states users will be charged $1 just to use X daily. This includes posting, replying to others, quoting, reposting, bookmarking, creating lists, and more.
This would effectively make X the first social network in history to force users to pay while also displaying ads, giving a whole new meaning to the term paywall. Though a $1 annual fee is practically nothing to the millions who wish to use the platform, some might term it a greedy decision to make X into a profitable entity.
The “Not a Bot” subscription plan will cost $1 annually, according to X (adding that prices vary by country and currency). New users on X on the plan will be able to “perform certain actions on the web version of the platform: post content, Like posts, Reply, Repost and Quote other accounts’ posts, Bookmark posts.”
New X users who do not pay the $1/year fee will only be able to take “read-only” actions, such as: read posts, watch videos and follow accounts, according to X.
On Tuesday, in a post on X, Musk said the platform going forward will be free to read, “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.”
Musk last month said X/Twitter is “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system” — a step that is necessary, he said, to thwart the plague of bots flooding the platform.
