Musk argues it’s the ‘only way to counter bots’
Elon Musk has said that a paywall could be introduced for all users of X, the app formerly called Twitter.
Musk purchased the social media platform last year, when it was called Twitter, for $44 billion (£38 billion).
He has overseen a chaotic few months in charge of the platform which has seen employees fired, high-profile users leave the platform, and the change of the iconic name and blue bird icon.
Musk has now suggested all users may have to pay for access to the platform.
In a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk said the a payment system was the only way to counter the amount of bots on the platform, the BBC reports.
“We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system,” the Tesla and SpaceX boss said.
As is usually the case with Musk, it is not quite clear just how serious he was being with the comment, and whether there are any concrete plans in place for a payment system.
But, looking at previous policies that Musk has been implementing on the app, a paywall being introduced for X would seem to be inline with the billionaire’s vision.
Musk caused controversy amongst users when he introduced X Premium, initially known as Twitter Blue, where users had to pay a monthly subscription fee for verification and a blue tick on the platform.
Subscription to this now also gives user access to other features that non-paying users don’t have, such as the ability to write longer posts, to edit posts and getting increased visibility on X.
And Musk has long spoken of his concerns about the amount of bots on the app.
He insisted that this would be his main incentive for introducing a paywall, as opposed to the amount of money he’d make from the service.
“A bot costs a fraction of a penny” to make he said. “But if somebody even has to pay a few dollars or something, some minor amount, the effective cost to bots is very high”.
X Premium currently costs between £9.60 and £11 a month in the UK, depending on whether you’ve purchased the service for iOS, Android or the web app.
Musk said he was looking to introduce a lower tier of prices for users, saying that “we just want it to be a small amount of money.”
“This is a longer discussion, but in my view, this is actually the only defence against vast armies of bots,” he added.
Earlier this month, Musk said video and audio calls would be coming to the app as he seeks to turn X into a ‘super app’ that users will go to for everything from social media to banking.
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