One popular social media platform may soon require all users to pay.
On Sept. 18, Elon Musk, the CEO of X—formerly known as Twitter—said in a live-streamed event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the platform is moving to a model requiring all users to pay a monthly fee.
Earlier in September, Musk said that X’s ad revenue was down 60%. He attributed the company’s advertising challenges to civil rights and consumer groups putting pressure on big brands, according to Axios.
“The single most important reason we’re moving to [have] a small monthly payment for [the] use of the X system is [that] it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Musk said.
A subscription model would make creating accounts more difficult for bots because each bot would have to register a new credit card. The charge would be lower than the current premium plan, which is about $8 a month.
Users, as expected, were not elated by the news.
The fact some of you are defending Elon Musk considering charging everyone for Twitter is BS you really think that will make this app better 🤧😬
When that happens many of us will go to Thread’s that will be the break out social media of the 2020s after TikTok pic.twitter.com/Kgs3RLYEfQ
— The Celestial Sentinel (@DnellyBPD) September 19, 2023
Soon as they start charging for Twitter I’m off this
— T (@SOTIEARRA) September 19, 2023
Previously, superstar athletes like Patrick Mahomes II and LeBron James said they were willing to lose their verification status on the platform if they had to subscribe to the premium edition of the app to keep their blue checks. James and Mahomes still have blue checks, as it was widely speculated that Musk covered their premium fees.
