To say that the social community previously often called Twitter has gone down a wierd highway since Elon Musk took the helm could be a little bit of an understatement. Following Musk’s $44 billion funding in early 2022, Twitter has been rebranded to “X” and moved over to a subscription mannequin for “verified” premium customers.
Now, it seems like Musk is taking that one step additional, with plans to require ALL Twitter customers to pay to play — not simply those that need a blue checkmark by their identify.
To be honest, the stakes are a bit decrease than the $8/month that X is charging for “X Premium” (previously often called “Twitter Blue”). The corporate’s newest transfer is ostensibly extra about filtering out the noise than producing new income, though it’s not going going to complain concerning the few additional million bucks a yr that its plans could in the end carry into its coffers.
People have been speculating on this for a number of weeks, however X has now confirmed that its new subscription program, dubbed “Not a Bot,” is being rolled out for testing in New Zealand and the Philippines.
Whereas the trial rollout solely impacts “new, unverified” accounts, many imagine that’s simply step one earlier than X in the end rolls it out to anyone who isn’t already paying for X Premium as a straightforward method of validating that its customers are literally people and never the automated “bot” accounts that the social community has been rife with since lengthy earlier than Musk took over.
The brand new plan was first reported by Fortune previous to the official announcement from X Help, which had heard from sources that the social community would “start charging new customers $1 a yr to entry key options together with the power to tweet, reply, and quote.”
Musk later confirmed that the community would stay open to anyone who desires to learn content material, including you could “learn free of charge, however $1/yr to write down,” and that “It’s the one option to battle bots with out blocking actual customers.”
Not like X Premium, the $1 USD per yr subscription doesn’t seem to incorporate some other advantages — it’s merely supposed to perform as a gatekeeper to discourage bots and different automated accounts.
Nonetheless, there’s a bit extra to it than simply paying up. In line with the new Not a Bot support page on the X Assist Middle, new accounts can even must confirm their telephone quantity and agree to a set of terms and conditions particular to the brand new program.
The article additionally provides that “New customers who decide out of subscribing will solely be capable of take “learn solely” actions, similar to: Learn posts, Watch movies, and Comply with accounts.”
Whereas a $1 per yr subscription shouldn’t be too onerous for anyone who desires to really take part on X, including one other service could also be a psychological barrier for people already affected by “subscription fatigue.” Additional, as Fortune factors out, some could also be reluctant to show over their bank card or different monetary info to an organization that’s gained a “tumultuous repute” since Musk took over.
Whereas there’s little doubt that requiring a small fee is a helpful method of verifying customers, there could also be an ulterior motive right here as properly. Musk has lengthy expressed a need to show X into an “every part” platform much like China’s WeChat, encouraging customers to carry their “total monetary world” onto X, from purchasing to banking and paying payments. Getting individuals’s fee info into X can be a step towards easing individuals into utilizing X for all their on-line transactions.