The company formerly known as Twitter will charge new users $1 (£0.82) per year to use the platform.
X began testing the annual subscription fee in New Zealand and the Philippines on Tuesday, October 17.
As a result, the social media platform is locking many of its features behind a paywall for newcomers, including the ability to post content, like, retweet, quote tweet and bookmark posts.
Ultimately, it means that new users who forego the subscription will only be able to browse X on the web and follow new accounts.
Reactions to the new policy have been largely negative. Users on X claim the move is unrealistic, will be hugely unpopular, and “the kiss of death” for Twitter.
Kinda funny they’re doing the strategy mobile games do where they try to put some core content behind a low-cost barrier so that you are more likely to spend money on much more expensive offerings https://t.co/NhGagOPf5L
— Edward Ongweso Jr (@bigblackjacobin) October 18, 2023
congrats! you are incredibly stupid. enjoy your dead website, thanks for ruining it for the rest of us. https://t.co/6ddJciAUfe
— tony grayson 💥 (@graysonZ80) October 18, 2023
Owner Elon Musk recently suggested the platform could start charging users in a bid to quash malicious bots.
Twitter has historically permitted these automated accounts as long as they follow its guidelines. On the other hand, problematic bots have been used by hackers to share disinformation and sow unrest during elections.
They can also result in inflated followings for accounts, making it harder for advertisers to gauge how many real users can see their ads. Musk became the most-followed person on X earlier this year, but around 40 percent of his followers appeared to be fake, according to researchers.
Advertising on X has plunged since Musk took over the site last October due to fears of rising hate speech on the platform. Coupled with the mountain of debt hanging over its head, the dip in revenue has put X in a perilous financial position.
To counter the slide, Musk has tried to pivot the company to a subscription-based model. Since last December, users have been able to pay a monthly fee to be verified on X and boost the visibility of their posts. Critics claim the move blurs the line between fake and genuine accounts, and has opened the door for scammers and spammers to boost their schemes.
this plan is flawless. spam bots would never pay $1 a year to sign up a new account on twitter https://t.co/PkI68pqHGD pic.twitter.com/43RLAYGyAY
— leon (@leyawn) October 18, 2023
Therefore, there’s a big question mark over whether the people behind bot networks will be deterred from using X by an annual fee.
X is also said to be planning more subscription plans with varying fees based on the ads people are shown.
Although X CEO Linda Yaccarino has declared that X is seeing 1.5 million new sign-ups every day, a new report has cast doubt on those claims.
Market intelligence firm Similarweb revealed that X’s global website traffic was down 14 percent compared to last year in September. Traffic from the UK also dropped 11.6 per cent as part of a steady decline during the first nine months of this year.
