Elon Musk says X, formerly Twitter, might charge all users a small monthly payment

Elon Musk has said that X will move behind paywall as it will charge users “a small monthly payment.” According to him, this change would be necessary to handle the problem of bots on the platform.

LIVE: Speaking with @elonmusk about how we can harness the opportunities and mitigate the risks of AI for the good of civilization. https://t.co/XiAQwOXzcP

— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 18, 2023

In a live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk said that the company was “moving to a small monthly payment” for the use of the X platform. He believes that such a change would be necessary to deal with the problem of bots on the platform, reports TechCrunch.

Also read: Twitter vs Threads: Elon Musk says X’s video viewership has doubled since 2022

“It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Musk explained. 

He further said, “because a bot costs a fraction of a penny — call it a tenth of a penny — but even if it has to pay … a few dollars or something, the effective cost of bots is very high,” Also, every time a bot creator creates another bot, they would need another new payment method.

Musk didn’t reveal what the new subscription payment would cost, but described it as a “small amount of money.”

Also read: X introduces Community Notes for videos to combat fake news

During the conversation, Musk also shared new metrics for X. He said that the site now has 550 million monthly users, who create 100 to 200 million posts every day. 

It’s important to note that since Musk took over the platform last year, the company has been suggesting X users to subscribe to its paid subscription service 'X Premium' (previously Twitter Blue). This subscription service offers a number of features such as the ability to edit posts, half the ad load, prioritised rankings in search and conversations, the ability to write longer posts, and much more.

The conversation between Musk and Netanyahu was focused on AI technology and its regulation. However, the topic of hate speech on X came up. Musk claimed he’s “against antisemitism” and “anything that promotes hate and conflict.”