X (Formerly Twitter) Will Charge New Users $1 Per Year To Escape Lurker Status
It seems the changes at X (formerly Twitter) aren’t stopping just yet. Following a “renovation” of its iconic birdhouse icon, the social media platform has recently announced it will trial a US$1 annual charge for new users.
Effective immediately in New Zealand and the Philippines, those who sign up to the site and fail to fork out the “non-mandatory” fee will be prohibited from uploading posts, replying, reposting, bookmarking, or even liking others’ thoughts.
Although, as a popup message puts it, those who refuse to pay up “can still follow accounts and browse X for free”—though one would essentially be limited to just being a full-time lurker.
This program, dubbed Not A Bot, aims to weed out trolls and machines by requiring unverified accounts to opt for one of three subscription plans “to be able to post and interact with other posts.”
Starting today, we're testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected.
— Support (@Support) October 17, 2023
This…
Along with verifying their mobile numbers, new users can choose from a US$8 per month X Premium (previously Twitter Blue) plan, a US$1,000 per month Verified Organization plan for companies, or the aforementioned US$1 per year charge.
“This new test was developed to bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity,” X explained in a Help Center post.
“This will evaluate a potentially powerful measure to help us combat bots and spammers on X, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount.”
Thankfully, existing users will not be affected—for now.
living in the Philippines of course i had to test this out, and holy shit is it incredibly ridiculous. this will never work on a large scale, and a single dollar + phone number is not NEARLY enough to stop scammers from scamming lmfao. https://t.co/GGx617qh9M pic.twitter.com/odFugPcvij
— ボブ (@weeabob) October 18, 2023
[via Mashable and The Guardian, cover image via Anna Markina | Dreamstime.com]
