Elon Musk, X owner, opened the possibility of charging "small amount of money" for using X, during a live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
X Deems Payment as Necessary
Musk confirmed that the company is "moving to a small payment" for the use of the X platform. As of 2023, X has 528.3 million active users. However, Musk attributed the possible change as a way to combat bots.
"Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny - call it a tenth of a penny - but even if it has to pay...a few dollars or something, the effective cost of bots is very high," Musk said.
The company is yet to disclose any further details on the possible change but Musk was firm that it will only be a "small amount of money." Currently, X has been updating new features for the X Premium users. The X Premium costs $8 per month or $84 per year.
X Launches New Features
Recently, X announced that the company added a government ID verification for Premium subscribers. However, the new feature is only available on limited countries such as the United States. The feature has not yet been released to the European region. In addition, X now also allows Premium users to hide their like counts.
The possible introduction of paying for basic services of X might imply that Premium will get expensive in the future, especially with the type of exclusive features that the Premium users are getting. Nonetheless, this will surely ramp up X's revenue after series of revenue decline since Musk's acquisition.
Related Article : New X Feature Allows Premium Users to Hide Like Counts
