X (Twitter) testing $1/year fee to post, like tweets, and more

Elon Musk has taken the first step towards killing the long-running Twitter joke about the website being free. Twitter, now called X just because Musk thinks it’s the coolest letter in the alphabet, is testing a pay-to-post feature in New Zealand and the Philippines.

Under the new program, dubbed ‘Not A Bot,’ new, unverified accounts that sign up in those regions will need to pay a $1 USD annual fee in order to post or interact with other posts, though X notes in a support document that the prices will “vary by country and currency.” The test started on October 17th, 2023 and isn’t impacting existing users yet.

Starting today, we’re testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected.

This…

— Support (@Support) October 17, 2023

The program will require new accounts to verify their phone number and then select a subscription plan, which includes the new Not a Bot fee alongside X Premium and Verified Organizations options. According to the support document, paying for the Not a Bot program grants the following:

“New users will be able to perform certain actions on the web version of the platform: post content, Like posts, Reply, Repost and Quote other accounts’ posts, Bookmark posts.”

Users who don’t subscribe will be limited to “read only” actions, which X specifies as reading posts, watching videos, and following accounts.

Given the document’s wording about the “web version” of the platform, it’s unclear if the new pay-to-post program will apply to people using the mobile app.

As the name of the program implies, the intent behind the pay-to-post restriction is to limit bot activity on X. Musk has long complained about bots on the platform and has claimed it’s the only way to eliminate bots. As usual, however, the evidence doesn’t support Musk’s claims, with recent research showing bot activity on X is worse than ever.

Moreover, the X support account (@Support) tweeted that the new pay-to-post fee was “not a profit driver.” While that might be true, it’s also true that X is in a tight spot financially, with bankers holding some $13 billion USD (about $17.82 billion CAD) in the company’s debt. Plus, Musk previously said X’s cash flow was negative thanks to a 50 percent drop in advertising sales — perhaps related to the company repeatedly placing ads next to Nazi content. With ad dollars flailing, X will need to generate revenue elsewhere to pay off its debts.

Source: X, (2) Via: Digital Trends