Billionaire businessman Elon Musk on Wednesday announced that new users on the social networking site, X would be required to pay $1 annually to interact on the app.
This development, Musk said, is not targeted for revenue generation, but to tackle bots on the networking site.
A bot is an automated software application that performs repetitive tasks over a network.
“This new test was developed to bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. It is not a profit driver. And so far, subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale.
“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,” Musk stated.
However, X said the fee isn’t mandated for unverified existing users on the platform while disclosing that the program is now being tested in New Zealand and the Philippines in preparation for its global rollout.
The company also noted that new users who opt out of subscribing at the signup stage will only be able to take read-only actions.
These actions include reading posts, watching videos, and following accounts but not allowed to post content, like posts, reply, repost, and quote other accounts’ posts.