X, formerly known as Twitter, has been finding ways to remain a profitable company. Among those efforts is the subscription plan for X Premium, which offers a variety of benefits for users. Soon enough, there will be two options on the table.
Options A and B for X
Adding a premium tier back then came as a shock to a lot of people, especially when the company announced that it would be the only way to acquire the coveted blue checkmark that verifies an account. Now, it looks like X is adding different pricing options for others.
The current plan is $8 or $11 a month, depending on what device you're using. X owner Elon Musk did not exactly share the prices for the new choices, but he did say that one tier will cost less than the current cost and the other will be more expensive.
Two new tiers of X Premium subscriptions launching soon.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2023
One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads, and the other is more expensive, but has no ads.
The difference is that the cheaper plan will have no reduction in ads while the more expensive option will have no ads at all. The initial X Premium plan shows "half ads" to subscribers, meaning that while there are ads, there aren't as many.
A user on X who goes by @aaronp613 found references in X's code that suggested the Premium options, although it showed three separate tiers. Other reports also stated that the company has been testing paid plans to generate more revenue, as per Tech Crunch.
Other social media platforms may also be adding a paid tier soon, particularly Meta as a way to provide an option where users won't have to see ads. This is brought on by the EU Court's judgment stating that users should be able to opt out of Meta processing their data.
Different from the $1 Charge
It could get confusing for some, especially since X just announced that users will be paying $1 a year to create accounts. However, that is an entirely different arrangement, as the yearly $1 fee will apply to all, whether or not they want the Premium features.
As a way to combat the growing bot problem on the platform, Elon Musk decided to put a price on creating a new account to make the generation of automated accounts more expensive. The aim is for people to be discouraged when the price is no longer worth it.
The tech billionaire claims that bots cost "a fraction of a penny," and the goal is simply to make it just a bit more expensive than that. The "Not-a-Bot" program has already started in two countries, namely New Zealand and the Philippines.
Based on the mechanics of the new program, X still has a lot of sorting out to do. For instance, the $1 requirement only applies to users who sign up through the web, but it's not the same for those who go through the process using iOS or Android devices.
The Verge reports that Not-a-Bot will be used to "bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity." Musk claims that while it won't stop bots completely, it will be a thousand times harder to manipulate the platform.
