WATCH Elon Musk: “We’re Moving To Have A Small Monthly Payment” To Use X…

Will Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, become a paid social media platform?

The billionaire floated the idea in a recent interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the best way he could think of to rid X of its massive bot problem.

It’s no secret that the platform suffers from an unusually high concentration of automated bot accounts—anyone who has ever used the new X or old Twitter knows this.

Prior to purchasing Twitter and rebranding it as X, Musk himself speculated that the number of active bots constituted anywhere from 25-90% of the platform’s daily traffic. Here’s more on the story:

Social media platform X may start charging users a small fee in a bid to counter the use of large bot networks, @ElonMusk recently revealed.

Full story👉https://t.co/sYyxnItTHe pic.twitter.com/1rGip00n3K

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) September 19, 2023

According to The New York Post:

He explained that adding a subscription to access the social media site would make it difficult for bots to create accounts because they would each need to register a new credit card.

Musk did not specify how much money he would charge each user, but said it would be “lower-tier pricing” than what X charges its premium subscribers — which is about $8 each month.

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Responses to the announcement from the X community were overwhelmingly negative, as non-verified users would have to pay to use the platform if Musk moves ahead with his proposal.

Reaction to Elon Musk charging for X/Twitter #ElonMuskIsATraitor #elonmusk #x pic.twitter.com/TlgTdfvzSp

— Royce wynn (@Roycewynn) September 18, 2023

"You boy! Run and tell Elon Musk that if he starts charging for Twitter he can go and shove his X up where the Sun don't shine!" pic.twitter.com/8UTBtFvBuE

— Principle [email protected] (@jdwallis) September 19, 2023

Apparently, @elonmusk has said he will start charging EVERYONE a monthly fee for using Twitter/X. 🙄
Way to finally kill off all creators on this platform….

— Carl Bovis (@CarlBovisNature) September 18, 2023

I refuse to pay this vile man anything, so I will be leaving Twitter, probably for @joinmastodon once I know the timeframe for charging.

I hope you will too.https://t.co/EHY7KIu7q9

— Bill McGuire (@ProfBillMcGuire) September 19, 2023

Fox Business featured this related detail:

Musk said earlier this month that X’s ad revenue was down 60%.

He blamed the advertiser exodus on pressure from the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that disagree with X’s content moderation policies.