October 18th 2023.
Elon Musk is taking a big step forward with his goal of tackling bots and spam on X, formerly known as Twitter. Starting on October 24, 2020, new users in New Zealand and The Philippines will have to pay a $1 fee in order to post, reply, and quote other users’ posts.
This is the most significant monetization of the platform since Musk took it over in October 2022. In a post on its platform, the company assured users that the test of this pilot program will not affect existing users. It remains to be seen if this program will be rolled out to other countries.
The fee is not related to Twitter/X's X Premium, which charges $8 a month for users to access "edit" and "undo" features.
The platform also outlined its plans through “Not-a-Bot Terms and Conditions.” Some users have expressed doubt that Musk and the company he owns are trustworthy with their financial information. This suspicion comes from the general lack of stability within the company since Musk’s takeover and the changes he has made to the platform, some of which may be illegal.
The terms and conditions state that “The Not-a-Bot Program is a beta program that X tests for platform integrity improvements” and that “X may modify, pause, or discontinue the Program at any time with no refund to you.”
It’s understandable that people are skeptical of the idea of Musk charging a fee. After all, he had just tweeted in June that Twitter was in need of money and was in heavy debt. Despite his hiring of ex-NBCUniversal advertising boss Linda Yaccarino to attract advertisers, many have already left due to the breakneck changes he has made to the platform.
At the end of the day, the decision to take the company at its word that features like Twitter Blue/X Premium are not cash grabs is ultimately up to the users.
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