X Owner Elon Musk has been floating the idea of putting what's formerly known as Twitter behind a paywall, and it looks like he is already starting. Starting in the Philippines and New Zealand, users might have to pay $1 a year to access certain X features.
'Not-a-Bot' Program
One of the persistent problems in many social media platforms is the existence of bots, which are automated accounts that generate posts, replies, and messages, and sometimes serve as fake followers. Musk has expressed his mission to eradicate such accounts on X.
Since the paid verification system failed to do just that, the tech billionaire believed that putting the platform behind a subscription would lead to bots being too expensive to purchase or operate. The company is already testing it out in two countries.
In the Philippines, users will have to pay 42.51 PHP a year, while New Zealand will pay 1.43 NZD. The program is called "Not-a-Bot" which aims to "bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity," as mentioned in The Verge.
The mechanics are still a little unclear, given that the subscription requirement only applies to new accounts, and that X is only implementing it for users who are signing up through the web and not the mobile apps through Android and iOS.
Musk says that it's the only way to fight bots without blocking real users. The X owner acknowledges that it won't stop bots completely, but it will be a thousand times harder to manipulate the platform.
Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2023
This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.
The tech billionaire stated that a bot costs "a fraction of a penny," and if creating each account means that people will have to pay the subscription fee, then the automated accounts will become more expensive, which could effectively discourage users from creating them.
How It Works
Without the Not-a-Bot subscription, users will be restricted to only reading posts, meaning that they will no longer be able to post content, reply, repost, quote, or bookmark posts on the microblogging platform.
Users must be logged into their accounts to sign up for the subscription, which can be paid for through Apple's in-app purchases for iOS-based devices, Google's in-app purchases for Android-based devices, or X's third-party partner Stripe for web browsers.
New accounts created in the Philippines and New Zealand will be required to verify their phone number, and then choose the subscription plan they would like to join such as the Not-a-Bot annual fee, X Premium, or verified Organizations.
After paying the subscription, X will start charging the user on a recurring basis through the selected payment method, and will only stop if the user or X cancels the subscription. It was clearly stated that the platform could change the policies and charges with the program from time to time.
The change in pricing will likely rely on how much the program affects the generation of bot accounts once it has been implemented. If the $1 fee fails to significantly reduce the amount of bots on X, then the price might increase.
