Social network X (formerly Twitter) has begun testing a paid subscription costing $1 per year. This is reported on the X support page.
The new Not Bot feature will affect unverified accounts. In order to publish posts and comments, as well as give likes, users will need to subscribe. However, there are no plans to charge a fee for reading publications.
“This is the only way to fight bots without blocking real users. This will not stop bots completely, but it will be 1000 times more difficult to manipulate the platform,” X owner Elon Musk explained the need for innovation on his page.
Subscription testing has so far been launched in New Zealand and the Philippines. It is emphasized that this will not affect existing accounts. New users will be offered to subscribe. If you unsubscribe, users will only be able to read tweets, watch videos and subscribe to accounts.
The company said that the subscription will help reduce spam and stop manipulation of the platform. They called this measure the main solution “that works at scale.”
Bloomberg explains introduction of an annual subscription as the company searches for new sources of income. The agency writes that after Musk’s “chaotic takeover” of Twitter, X’s debt is $13 billion. Bloomberg estimates that X owes about $1.2 billion a year in interest payments on debt related to the acquisition.
After purchasing Twitter in the fall of 2022, Musk began to carry out large-scale reforms of the social network. In particular, the social network has introduced a paid subscription, Twitter Blue (renamed X Premium) for $7.99 per month, which provides a blue check mark next to the account name, the ability to edit tweets, etc.
