X/Twitter has launched a brand new experiment in New Zealand and the Philippines the place new customers now must pay $1/yr to entry primary options reminiscent of posting and interacting with different posts. The platform beforehand generally known as Twitter explained that the brand new subscription was “not a revenue driver,” however that it ought to assist to cut back its spam downside.
The corporate really named this new experiment the “Not a Bot” program, and mentioned that “subscription choices have confirmed to be the principle resolution that works at scale.” Whereas nothing is altering for current X/Twitter customers in New Zealand and Philippines, new customers in these nations will even must confirm their telephone numbers in the event that they wish to subscribe to the $1/yr Not a Bot Program. In any other case, they are going to solely be capable of use X as a read-only expertise.
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“It’s the one technique to combat bots with out blocking actual customers,” Musk posted on X. “This gained’t cease bots utterly, however it is going to be 1000X tougher to govern the platform.
Right, learn without spending a dime, however $1/yr to put in writing. It’s the one technique to combat bots with out blocking actual customers.
This gained’t cease bots utterly, however it is going to be 1000X tougher to govern the platform.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2023
Twitter had a bot downside lengthy earlier than the corporate was acquired by Elon Musk, and placing primary options behind a paywall could also be an answer to this downside. Nonetheless, it’s assured to be a really unpopular one. “We sit up for sharing extra concerning the outcomes quickly,” the corporate mentioned in a support page.
Musk just lately recommended placing the whole lot of X behind a paywall to handle this spam downside. Not too long ago, the X proprietor additionally made TweetDeck (now X Professional), a preferred Twitter dashboard for energy customers solely accessible with an $8/month X Premium (beforehand Twitter Blue) subscription.
