The chief executive officer of the social media platform, Elon Musk, has said that new users will start paying to post.
Jerymusa.com reports that in response to a post on Monday on the X policy on new users, Musk stated as much, adding that it is the only way to address the problem of bots on the network.
According to the American millionaire, there aren’t as many decent usernames as there used to be because of the rise in phoney accounts taking up username space.
Charging Fees May End The Use of Bots
Musk stated, “Unfortunately, the only way to stop the relentless onslaught of bots is to charge new users a small fee for write access.”
“Are you a bot?” can be easily passed by current AI (as well as troll farms).
“Many good handles are taken as a result of the flood of bogus accounts, which also consume the available namespace.”
In response to another X account regarding the new guidelines, Musk stated that after three months, new users will be able to post for free.
Key functionality like the ability to tweet, retweet, like, and comment on posts is only accessible to new users in New Zealand and the Philippines who pay $1 a year on X.
“Reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity” is the stated goal, according to the social media network.
In a separate development, Musk revealed on April 4 that efforts were in progress to purge the X of bot accounts and trolls, which would result in the suspension of genuine accounts.
He went on to say that the social media network would also track out the offenders and force them to face the fury of the law over violations.