Social media platform ‘X’ is now going to charge $1 per year from its new users in Philippines and New Zealand, the micro-blogging said in a documents released in its help center.
The post, called ‘Not A Bot,’ explained the subscription model exclusively for “new users” from the Philippines and New Zealand. “This new test was developed to bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity,” X said. “This will evaluate a potentially powerful measure to help us combat bots and spammers on X,” as the platform pitches its “accessibility with the small fee amount.” However, the already existing users won’t have to pay the $1 fee.
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
Long story short, if you are from the Philippines or New Zealand and thinking of creating a new X account, then get ready to pay $1 per year to the platform to use it.
However, it is must be noted those new users who don’t want to pay $1 per year can create a “read-only” account to surf the platform, but if they seek to “write,” they will have to pay $1 fee.
Confirming of the development through his official ‘X’ account, Elon Musk said, “Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users.” Musk further added, “This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.”
According to the issued note on X’s support page, the new user has to validate their phone numbers to sign up, and then they will be asked to select from the $1 yearly plans, X Premium, or Verified Organisations. The factor that Musk explained, the new users who do not want to subscribe and still want to use X for free will only be able to use their X accounts in “read-only” mode, including reading posts, watching videos, and following other X accounts.
Having said that, it isn’t clear though whether the test program would be extended to other countries other than the Philippines and New Zealand. However, considering Musk’s post implying the fight against the bots, there is a possibility that this $1 annual subscription may be expanded to other countries also, as we know bots don’t just operate in the Philippines and New Zealand only.
PNN & Agencies
