X May Charge New Users a 'Small Fee' to Post, Like and Reply

[MacRumors]

Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) will soon begin charging new users "a small fee" for posting content and liking, replying, and bookmarking tweets, according to Elon Musk.

X Daily News, a feed that posts X updates, today noticed that text strings on the website have been updated to mention a small annual fee that new users will need to pay in order to access the social network.

Musk said in response that the fee for new users is "the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots."

The fee has previously been tested in New Zealand and the Philippines, and Musk says that it is applicable only to those who are new to Twitter. When a new user signs up, the user will need to pay the fee, or wait for three months to be able to engage on the network. The updated language on the Twitter site:

New accounts are required to pay a small annual fee before you're able to post, like, bookmark, and reply. This is to reduce spam and create a better experience for everyone. You can still follow accounts and browse X for free.

The text does not mention being able to post for free after three months, but Musk confirmed that "write actions" would be free after that time period.

It is unclear how the policy will stop spam accounts and bots, as spammers will be able to pay the fee or simply create multiple accounts and wait to be able to post. Regular users, meanwhile, could be discouraged from using X due to the extra step and the fact that other social networks are free.

The fee appears to be around $1, as it costs $1.75 NZD in New Zealand. The pay-for-access policy has not yet been implemented outside of New Zealand and the Philippines.

Musk said that fake accounts also use up "the available namespace" limiting the "good handles." X has freed up over a million usernames so far, and will "free up tens of millions in the coming weeks."

Article Link: X May Charge New Users a 'Small Fee' to Post, Like and Reply

 

[Havalo]

Go X, go broke.

 

[Two Appleseeds]

Is this a late April fool's joke?

 

[Natas1000]

Dude is a chump.

Played himself into having to buy it and then outed himself as dumpster level dumb with every subsequent decision.

 

[kildraik]

Makes sense. But bots will always bot. At least new signups will still have access to information.

It will be an interesting play over time and is worth watching.

 

[rp100]

If they can curb spam/bots with a $1/year fee, that tells you just how bad the problem truly is. Whereas generating emails/ips is cheap, it would be a lot harder to generate millions of temporary credit card numbers (assuming they don’t accept paypal or another non-CC method).

 

[autrefois]

Musk must be high on X if he thinks this is going to do anything but drive millions of people away from his platform.

 

[frozencarbonite]

It's like he wants it to fail!

 

[bryanhalpin]

there really shouldn't be any pushback or negative comments regarding this. I think it's a good idea. it's not even a big deal about a possible $1 fee per year for new users or wait 3 months if you don't want to be able to post. I highly doubt people are going to go off twitter, because of a $1 fee a year for new users. This doesn't even affect current users.

 

[PassiveSmoking]

As a reminder, Bluesky is no longer invite-only and is accepting signups.

 

[BGPL]

Remember when you got charged for texting?

Honestly, I would love to see this happen, maybe it will curtail people's habits of posting non-stop garbage throughout the day.

 

[bodhisattva]

There will be some that pay. Make the money while they can before the ship goes down. Diehards will defend and support until the last bubble rises.

 

[bryanhalpin]

Musk must be high on X if he thinks this is going to do anything but drive millions of people away from his platform.

if you read the article this has nothing to do with current users, it's for NEW users. So not sure why people would leave X over a possible $1 per year fee to avoid bots. It's a good idea.

 

[BorisDG]

* Meanwhile, bots subscribing to Blue *

This won't stop them, but will make X a little bit richer.

 

[hieranonymous]

I like how Mr. Galaxy Brain’s big idea is to turn X into the live-services calamity nobody asked for.

 

[SyrOrange]

As a reminder, Bluesky is no longer invite-only and is accepting signups.

Yep, I fled to BlueSky right after Musk bought Twitter. DM me so I can add you. MacRumors needs to be on BlueSky.

 

[mrat93]

Most of the spam I see is from “verified” accounts that already paid $8. How will this make a difference?

I miss the old twitter.

 

[swingerofbirch]

The agglomeration of Twitter has kept me there. It still seems to be "the" town square.

But I've noticed a big deterioration in the functioning. I don't get notifications when I have *actual* responses and likes, and I do get notifications when I get I get likes from salacious bots, which there are many of. I didn't have that at all before.

And the whole X look reminds me of when Dwight became manager in The Office and painted his office black. It's just teenage angsty, and the bird was so nice! And fit with the whole idea of, you know, tweeting.

Oh, and of course the blue checks . . . they had a purpose. Now just meaningless.

I wouldn't mind paying a one time fee, but I certainly would use a burner credit card number.

 

[smythey]

I’m sure this plan will work flawlessly and will not be superseded or abandoned shortly after going live.

 

[jz0309]

Musk said that fake accounts also use up "the available namespace" limiting the "good handles." X has freed up over a million usernames so far, and will "free up tens of millions in the coming weeks."

Musk said in response that the fee for new users is "the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots."

so in other words, tens of millions of users are fake or bots ... just wait til gene capabilities will be in everyone's hands with upcoming chips and OSs (all smartphones inc iOS and Android as well as computers running Windows or macOS).

The best answer is still not to use "services" like X ...

What a society we have become ...

 

[JamesMay82]

I recently joined X and I joined in on debates etc but mainly just found myself talking to myself with getting the odd few likes so I've lost interest and just deleted the app.

I must admit, I found it was making me angry with the various news stories seemingly pushed towards me to get a reaction. I've also deleted the apps for Facebook & Instagram and feel way better for it.

I think he will lose a lot of customers charging a fee and it will probably do those people the world of good!

 

[now i see it]

So X has hundred of millions of bots. No wonder it’s so popular. Bots liking bots.

 

[BorisDG]

so in other words, tens of millions of users are fake or bots ...

The bot problem is actually huge, since Elon took over Twitter. Now in like 80% of the cases, I'm getting insta likes by some booba women. So annoying with those online prostitutes.

 

[iZac]

I had the misfortune to need to create a burner Twitter account a couple of days ago to read a multi-post tutorial thread. The damn website forced me through a ten step verification process. I nearly gave up and in the end the tutorial was a waste of time, disabled the account a few minutes later.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Free speech, will cost you a dollar