New X users will need to pay to post, Musk says

X owner Elon Musk announced Monday that new users would soon need to pay a small fee to post on the site.

X Daily News broke the story. Mr. Musk confirmed the speculation, replying it’s the only way to defeat the bot problem on the social media platform.

“Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots,” he wrote. “Current AI (and troll farms) can pass ‘are you a bot’ with ease.”

Mr. Musk didn’t elaborate on when such a policy would take effect.

The response to the proposed change wasn’t positive, with many saying it goes against the spirit of free speech. Others said the change would do little to curb the bot problem on X, suggesting that bot account operators make enough money to gladly pay a small fee to keep their farms going. 

you vastly underestimate how many of your users are scammed on a daily basis on this platform which is why you think this small fee is an actual hurdle

these scammers are printing infinite daily they do not give af about paying pennies to make 5 figs+

— Ansem (@blknoiz06) April 15, 2024

Earlier this month, X announced it was starting to “eliminate accounts that violate our rules against platform manipulation and spam.” The company has not provided a list of accounts that have been banned as a result of the policy.

Last year, in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Musk said all users would eventually have to pay something to use X to combat the bot problem on the platform. Soon after that announcement, X started charging new members in New Zealand and the Philippines $1 per year to use the site.

Many automated spam accounts have purchased X Premium, so their posts are typically more visible.

Under nearly every viral post on X are a few bot accounts posting links to crypto scams or pornographic material. The problem has been so pervasive recently that the phrase “nudes in bio” has become a meme on X.