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Elon Musk, the owner of X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter, is set to introduce monthly charges for users of the platform.
Musk made this known during a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, September 18, 2023.
The billionaire tech tycoon argued that the payment system was the only way to cut down on bots on the social media platform.
“We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system,” he said.
Musk believes that getting users to pay for using the platform is the only way to tackle bots.
“It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots because a bot costs a fraction of a penny — call it a tenth of a penny — but if somebody even has to pay a few dollars, some minor amount, the effective cost of bots is very high.
“And then you also have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot,” he said.
Since Musk completed his acquisition of the platform in October 2022, he has made several modifications to the platform.
Following his acquisition of Twitter, he changed its name to X, introduced a paid premium option, cut content moderation and reinstated formerly banned accounts.
Currently, the X Premium costs $8 per month, which is ₦6,316 using the official exchange rate.
While the amount he would charge is yet to be announced, Musk promised to come up with a lower tier pricing for X users.