Hyderabad: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in an attempt to address the issue of bots on X (formerly Twitter), announced that the social media platform will charge new X users a fee to access the platform. In response to a tweet from an X account about changes on Twitter, Musk said that charging a fee to new users was the "only way" to address the "onslaught of bots".
"Current AI (and troll farms) can pass ‘are you a bot’ with ease,” he said, referring to tools like CAPTCHA. In a reply to another user, he added that new accounts would be able to post after three months of creation without paying a fee.
“Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots,” Musk said.
“This is only for new users. They will be able to do write actions for free after 3 months,” the billionaire added.
The announcement also mentions that X will be free to follow any other account and explore on the platform, but anyone who wants to join X will have to pay an annual subscription fee, without specifying what that fee will be.
What will the new X users be charged for?
The changes include a “not-a-bot” Terms and Conditions page, according to which new accounts will have to pay a "small annual fee" before they can post, share, bookmark, or respond to other tweets on X.
Musk's plans for the platform include making most of X's features chargeable. He previously said that charging each X user will help him manage the business more efficiently. Many users were not happy to hear that X (formerly Twitter) will be charging for even the most basic features.
Earlier Actions
Earlier this month, Musk-led platform announced a mega purge of spam accounts. Several X users lost followers as the social media platform kicked off the exercise to remove bots.
The action came as spam and porn bots swarmed the platform in the past few months, leaving users flummoxed. Musk had announced that a system purge of bots and trolls was underway.
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