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Ah, Elon Musk, the ‘X-man’ always making headlines with bold statements. His latest antics now involve suggesting a fee for users of the platform formerly known as Twitter.

This time though, it’s not about making more bucks (I’m sure he has plenty already). Musk has suggested that the social media giant X may start charging all users for access as a strategy to combat the prevalence of bots on the platform.

During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk voiced his concerns about automated accounts, commonly known as bots, which have been a persistent issue on the platform. In response to keeping up with the slew of non-human accounts, he hinted at the possibility of implementing a paywall for all users.

Currently, the social media platform offers a subscription service called X Premium, which costs $11 in the US for iPhones and £11 in the UK, about R250 per month. This ‘premium service’ provides users with benefits like a verified account checkmark.

Musk rationalised the potential payment introduction by stating that creating bots costs “a fraction of a penny”, and so, by introducing a nominal fee for user accounts, he believes it would deter bot operators, as they would need to establish new payment methods for each bot they create.

However, Musk did not provide a definitive confirmation of X’s plans to charge users but rather indicated that it was under consideration. X has not yet released an official statement on this matter, but the comments section in ‘popping off’, to say the least.

During his conversation with Netanyahu, Musk also revealed that X currently boasts 550 million monthly users, who collectively generate up to 200 million posts daily. This is a marked shift from the platform’s previous method of measuring its user base, which primarily relied on monetisable daily active users.

Musk’s proposal for a paywall comes as X grapples with a decline in advertising revenue, which is its primary source of income. The tech-bro celeb has attributed this decline to an advertiser boycott driven by concerns about his leadership and the platform’s management of inappropriate or offensive content, resulting in a 60% drop in ad revenue. The thing about social media is that it’s decidedly public, so mense can see when the big boss fumbles with problems like antisemitism posts.

While Musk and Netanyahu initially intended to discuss technology and artificial intelligence, their conversation understandably pivoted towards topical issues of free speech and antisemitism on the platform.

Netanyahu encouraged Musk to keep fighting for a safe space for X users, one that doesn’t feature nasty hatespeech.

“I encourage you and urge you to find the balance. It’s a tough one.”

We also urge Musk to turn his mind to these more important matters, and keep his dick-measuring contests to a minimum.

[source:theguardian]