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X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is set to implement a new policy, charging fresh users $1 a year for access to some of its prime basic features.
The features are those make the Twitterverse go ’round, like tweeting, replying, quoting, reposting, liking, bookmarking, and crafting those ever-so-essential lists.
According Fortune’s Kylie Robison, starting today, this change will take effect for those new user signing up from the Philippines and New Zealand . So, if you’re planning to jump on the X bandwagon from there, you might want to have your dollar bill ready.
Just about 20 minutes after the outlet posted the news, X’s Support account chimed in to confirm the scoop, explaining that “this new test was developed to bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. It is not a profit driver.”
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
X/Twitter owner Elon Musk has been talking about this $1 charge for a while, according to the report.
In his classic Musk style, shortly after the announcement, he took to his X handle and wrote that you can “read for free, but $1/year to write.”
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
According to him, it’s all about making life harder for the bot brigade without locking out real people. He’s not claiming this will put bots out of business entirely, but he thinks it’ll make it harder on them at least.
Of course, people are likely to have mixed feelings about this whole $1 deal, but hey, let’s see how it all plays out.