X Charges New Users $1 to Combat Spam Bots, Making It “1000X Harder To Manipulate Platform”
Elon Musk is ramping up the fight against bots on X as a way to stop ‘manipulation on the free-speech platform.’ X will begin charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines $1 per year to post or interact with other users on the platform, a move Musk says “will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.”
X account “Support” provided more details of the subscription called “Not A Bot” program:
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.
— Support (@Support) October 17, 2023
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On X’s website, in the Help Center section, additional details revealed new accounts that want posting privileges in those two countries must complete a two-step verification process:
Step One: Phone Verification
- New accounts created on X, in these two countries, will first be required to verify their phone number.
Step Two: Select Your Subscription Plan
- $1 USD Annual Fee (prices vary by country and currency). New users will be able to perform certain actions on the web version of the platform: post content, Like posts, Reply, Repost and Quote other accounts’ posts, Bookmark posts.
“This will evaluate a potentially powerful measure to help us combat bots and spammers on X, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. Within this test, existing users are not affected,” X Support said.
X nor Musk explained why the new program is being rolled out in the two countries. It could be X has realized these countries have the highest amount of fake accounts.
Not A Bot is in addition to X’s subscription of $8 per month. And there is no word if X plans on expanding the new charge to other countries.
During a recent live-streamed chat with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk floated the idea of charging users on the X, noting, “It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.”
