Elon Musk, who owns the popular social media network X (formerly known as Twitter), is planning to place the system behind a paywall for all users as part of his plan to counter bots on the platform.
The disclosure arrived in an online conversation between the billionaire and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the discussion, which is also available on X, Musk stressed the need for a paywall for the site to counter bot or automated accounts. The billionaire, in fact, saw introducing a monthly payment for all users to continue using the service as the only way to counter bot accounts on the platform.
“The single most important reason that we are moving to having a small monthly payment for the use of the X system, is it is the only way I could think of to combat vast armies of bots,” said Musk. He added that a system requiring bots to pay would help minimise their influence and that the monthly payment would be a “small amount of money”. There has been no official statement on the matter from X, however. Whether Musk’s comments indeed reflect relevant developments at the firm is also uncertain at the moment.
It is worth noting here that Musk’s qualms about bot or spam accounts date back to the period when he contemplated acquiring X. He even elevated the issue of the number of bot accounts on then Twitter to call off his proposed $44 billion deal, accusing the firm of misleading him and not providing sufficient data related to bot accounts. Musk had almost opted out of the acquisition when he was taken to court by former X executives; however, he completed the deal just weeks before the lawsuit hit the court. His early days at the firm were marked by chaos, uncertainty and sweeping alterations.
Since his acquisition, Musk has made a series of organisational and product changes, majority of which have attracted significant scrutiny from regulators, tech critics and digital safety experts. The billionaire kickstarted his tenure at the firm with mass layoffs, slashing crucial teams that comprised human rights activists, online safety and wellbeing specialists. His demands for employees to commit to an “extremely hardcore” work culture under his management also led to an avalanche of resignations. Eventually, X saw the departure of top executives who had been associated with the company for years.
Musk’s initial attempts at generating profits from X included the monetisation of the blue verification checkmarks under the Twitter Blue (now X Premium) subscription service, which also offers increased character limits for tweets. The service, however, backfired when the platform flooded with imposter accounts with paid verification badges. Several businesses suffered huge financial losses as a result of negative publicity fermented by fake accounts, prompting the subscription service to be rolled back. It was relaunched with several changes and subsequently rebranded to X Premium.
Musk has already placed TweetDeck, an online dashboard used by various media and business organisations to monitor and organise content online, behind the paywall. Despite several product changes, X continues to struggle with profits, with advertisers either opting out or viewing the platform as potentially damaging to their businesses. These fears persist primarily from Musk’s “free speech” ideals, under which the billionaire has reinstated previously suspended accounts and allowed back controversial names that had been deplatformed over serious guidelines violations. A significant volume of research conducted following Musk’s takeover of X also indicates a “dramatic” rise in hate speech and other forms of harmful online content, though Musk has claimed otherwise on different occasions.
Last month, Musk also announced removing the blocking feature on X altogether, saying it “makes no sense”. The feature is widely used to prevent harassment, stalking and abuse, and is mandated by Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. The billionaire has also suspended the ban on political advertising, which was prohibited in 2019 in the wake of mounting criticism from digital safety experts with regards to online misinformation and disinformation.
