In a recent live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X (Twitter), discussed the possibility of introducing a monthly fee for all users. This move comes as an attempt to address the persistent issue of bots on the platform.
According to IANS, Musk mentioned that charging a nominal fee could be an effective strategy to counteract the widespread use of bots. He explained that while bots are incredibly cost-efficient, even a modest fee would significantly increase the overall expense of operating them.
This notion of implementing charges for all X users isn’t entirely new, as Musk had previously suggested it last year. Currently, the company offers a premium service called X Premium, which is available for $8 per month. Subscribers to this service enjoy benefits like post-editing, reduced advertisements, the ability to write longer posts, and higher rankings in search results and conversations.
During the interaction, Musk revealed that X boasts 550 million monthly users, with the platform seeing a staggering 100-200 million posts created each day. However, he did not disclose the exact number of paid subscribers at this time.
During its last public earnings in Q1 2022 Twitter, reported 229 million monetisable daily active users (mDAUs)
Furthermore, the platform has recently also introduced a government-ID-based verification system for its premium users in a bid to combat impersonation on the platform and provide added benefits, including “prioritised support.”
The company has partnered with Israel-based firm Au10tix for identity verification. While the platform already mentions account authentication to prevent impersonation, it’s exploring further measures like ensuring users access age-appropriate content and safeguarding against spam and malicious accounts. (India TV)