Elon Musk says all X users may need to pay to use the site, formerly known as Twitter, during a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Elon Musk has hinted all X users may need to pay to use the site.
The microblogging site – which was previously known as Twitter – looks set to be made into a universally paid-for-service in an attempt to counter the prevalence of bots on the site.
While in conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, the 52-year-old billionaire said: “We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system.”
“A bot costs a fraction of a penny but if somebody even has to pay a few dollars or something, some minor amount, the effective cost to bots is very high.
“We’re actually going to come up with a lower tier pricing. So we just want it to be just a small amount of money.
“This is a longer discussion, but in my view, this is actually the only defence against vast armies of bots.”
These comments – which are currently unclear if this is policy or off-the-cuff musings – come after Elon shifted the blue tick verification system into a feature that requires a $8 a month subscription, from a free feature given to notable people and organisations to prevent the spread of misinformation and increase trust.
Last week, the SpaceX founder admitted there was “overwhelming consensus” about the regulation of Artificial Intelligence – which is an ever growing space in the tech sector amid concerns it poses for society – after a meeting with lawmakers and the CEOs of market leaders such as OpenAI, Google, Meta and others.
Elon continued: “I think we’ll probably see something happen. I don’t know on what timeframe or exactly how it will manifest itself.”
Elon Musk hints all X users may need to pay to use the site
