Musk’s ‘X’ testing $1 per year fee to post

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has announced a test subscription method called “Not a Bot” that will charge users in two countries $1 per year to post content on the platform. Starting on Tuesday, Oct. 17, new users in New Zealand and the Philippines will have to pay the annual $1 USD fee.

• New Zealand: $1.43 NZD per year.
• Philippines: ₱42.51 PHP per year.

According to X officials, the test program aims to reduce spam, bot activity and manipulation on the platform. While the new test program requires an annual fee for new users to post, they can opt out of the subscription and create a free “read-only” account.

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“This new program aims to defend against bots and spammers who attempt to manipulate the platform and disrupt the experience of other X users,” The X announcement said. “We look forward to sharing more about the results soon.”

The implementation of the “Not a Bot” subscription comes about a month after Musk announced his platform would be moving to a small subscription-based model. The September announcement in a streamed discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came with a lot of backlash from users and critics.

Musk said the logic behind the “Not a Bot” subscription is that a small fee may keep users from creating bot accounts, which he said only cost a fraction of a penny to set up.

The “Not a Bot” subscription plan is separate from X’s premium subscription plan for $8 per month, which gives users a verified blue check mark and allows them to edit posts, among a few other features.

The “Not a Bot” subscription is a test, and the platform will share information about results soon.