Elon Musk’s X introduces fees for new users in Philippines, New Zealand to use basic features
- The social media site formerly known as Twitter said its new subscription model was aimed at reducing spam and bot activity
- New users who decline to pay the nominal fee will only have access to a ‘read only’ version of the platform
X, owned since last year by the billionaire Elon Musk, said in a statement on Tuesday that its new subscription method should “bolster” existing efforts to reduce spam and “manipulation of our platform and bot activity.”
Under the trial, new web users in the Philippines and New Zealand will have to pay X around US$0.75 and US$0.85, respectively, every year, in order to access basic functionality like posting on the site.
Those who decline to pay the nominal fee will only have access to a “read only” version of the platform, limiting them to reading posts, watching videos and following accounts, the company said.
“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,” it added.
Existing users in these countries are not affected.
Musk has made a number of controversial changes to the social media firm’s management and product since he acquired Twitter last year for US$44 billion.
