Elon Musk‘s platform, known as “X,” plans to charge users in New Zealand and the Philippines $1 per year as part of their “Not A Bot” program to reduce spam and bot activity on the platform. New users joining via the platform’s website in these two countries will also need to verify their accounts with a phone number.
While it’s not clear why this subscription program is limited to these two countries and only for new website users, it’s possible that users from other countries may also subscribe to the program from X’s mobile apps. X has started testing this program as of October 17, 2023, and existing users are not affected by it.
“X Platform’s New Subscription Program to Combat Bots”
Subscription Benefits: Subscribers who pay $1 on the web version of X will have full posting capabilities, including creating content, liking posts, replying, reposting, quoting other accounts’ posts, and bookmarking. Users who don’t subscribe can only read posts, watch videos, and follow accounts.
Objective: The program aims to protect the platform from disruptive bots and spammers, making the experience better for genuine users. It complements X’s existing $8 premium subscription.
Elon Musk’s View: Elon Musk, the platform’s owner, believes this is an effective way to fight bots without blocking real users. Reading posts remains free, but there’s a $1/year fee for writing. While it won’t eliminate bots entirely, it significantly increases the difficulty of bot manipulation.
“Elon Musk’s Strategy to Fight Bots on the Platform”
Musk’s Early Efforts: Even before taking over Twitter, Elon Musk was determined to reduce bot activity on the platform.
Charging a Fee: Musk’s belief is that by charging users a fee, it discourages bots. Despite only a small percentage of users subscribing to the $8 premium service, he thinks this is an effective way to combat bots.
Deterrent Effect: According to Musk, requiring a subscription fee makes it harder for bots to create accounts because each bot would need a new credit card to register on the platform. This added cost reduces the cost-effectiveness of using bots.
Important: Please note that this article is only meant to provide information and should not be taken as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other type of advice.
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