In September 2023, Elon Musk hinted that all users would have to pay a monthly fee to use X, and now the plan has begun to be implemented.
The company has announced a trial of a new subscription program for X users in New Zealand and the Philippines.
According to the company, the aim of this new program is to prevent the proliferation of chatbots in the social platform.
In a statement issued by X, it was stated that the trial of this new program is being started in 2 countries from October 17.
Under the program, people who create new accounts on X in New Zealand and the Philippines must verify their phone number and then pay a $1 annual fee to use features such as post, like, reply, repost and bookmarks. Must do.
According to the statement, this new program will help in reducing spam posts and activities of chatbots.
The statement added that this will be the most powerful tool to combat spammers and chatbots on X, but it will not apply to existing users.
New users who don’t join the subscription program will be able to read posts, watch videos and follow accounts on the platform, but won’t be able to post or like, the company said.
Currently, the company has not said anything regarding the introduction of this new program in other countries.
It should be noted that after buying Twitter in October 2022, this social media network has made several changes.
To make the company profitable, Elon Musk laid off thousands of employees while making many features, including BlueTick, subject to a monthly subscription.
Similarly, in August 2023, access to Twitter Deck was terminated for general users.
TweetDeck, now named XPro, is only accessible to XBlue (the new name for Twitter Blue) users, meaning a monthly fee is paid.