Elon Musk has unveiled plans to introduce a nominal fee for users posting on the social media platform X, aimed at combating bots and fake accounts, as reported by Pymnts.
Starting last October, the company initiated trials by implementing a $1 annual subscription fee for users in the Philippines and New Zealand.
Musk hinted at extending a similar approach to other regions, stating, "Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots. Current AI and troll farms can pass 'are you a bot' with ease."
Addressing concerns about fake accounts consuming available usernames, Musk added, "The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result."
Speculation about the policy shift initially surfaced on X through an automated tracking account.
This change comes amid the detection of millions of bot accounts associated with promoting fake products or explicit content.
While specifics of the new policy remain undisclosed, newly registered users in these regions are currently limited to reading posts, with interaction functionalities such as posting, liking, reposting, replying, bookmarking, and quoting posts requiring payment.
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