X, formerly known as Twitter, has unveiled a new program which mandates new and unverified users to pay a nominal $1.
According to the CEO of the online platform, Elon Musk, through a post on X, the program is currently in the testing phase in New Zealand and the Philippines.
The official statement from X reads, “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.”
X clarifies that the objective behind this test is to reinforce their existing efforts to combat spam, manipulation of the platform, and bot activity. They aim to strike a balance between ensuring platform accessibility and imposing a nominal fee. The statement underlines that the primary motivation behind this initiative is not profit generation.
X’s chairman, Elon Musk, took to Twitter to elaborate on the reason behind the annual subscription fee.
He stated, “Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users. This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.”
