Elon Musk has begun testing a new $1 subscription pilot program for the X platform in select parts of the globe.
“Starting today, we’re testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines,” said X’s “Support” account in a post on the social media platform. “New, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post and interact with other posts.”
According to Musk, the idea behind the paid subscription model is to bolster the platform’s already successful efforts to reduce spam, bots, and manipulation while simultaneously balancing platform accessibility.
Having already introduced a premium subscription model for $8 U.S., Musk said the $1 fee won’t serve as a profit driver. He said the subscription model has proven to be “the main solution that works at scale.”
Musk has been planning to introduce a smaller paid model, having last touched on the idea in a September livestream with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The single most important reason we’re moving to have a small monthly payment for users of the X system is it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Musk said in the livestream.
While X is currently testing the “Not A Bot” program in only two countries, Musk said he eventually plans to require a monthly fee from all users on the platform.
“It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users, Musk said. “This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.”
Ultimately, new, unverified users will still have free access to read posts. However, they will not be able to write or post on the platform. For that, Musk said users would need to pay the $1 annual subscription fee.
Musk has not announced how long the pilot program will run or when he plans to expand the subscription model to countries beyond New Zealand and the Philippines. In the meantime, existing X users will not be affected by the test program.
For more information, X users can visit https://help.twitter.com/en/using-x/not-a-bot.
