Elon Musk’s X will begin charging new, unverified customers in a take a look at program in two international locations.
X, previously referred to as Twitter, mentioned Tuesday it is going to take a look at its new “Not a Bot” program in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified customers in these international locations might be required to pay a $1-a-year subscription price with the intention to publish and work together with different posts. Present customers won’t be affected.
“This new take a look at was developed to bolster our already profitable efforts to scale back spam, manipulation of our platform and bot exercise, whereas balancing platform accessibility with the small price quantity. It isn’t a revenue driver,” X mentioned in a publish. “And to date, subscription choices have confirmed to be the primary answer that works at scale.”
It was unclear if or when this system may broaden to different international locations.
Final month, Musk, who purchased the corporate practically a 12 months in the past for $44 billion, floated the concept of charging customers as a strategy to weed out pretend and spam accounts.
X’s present subscription plan, X Premium — previously Twitter Blue — prices $8 a month and contains verification and elevated visibility of posts.