Musk's X now charging new users in Ph, New Zealand
By J.Lo
"This will evaluate potentially powerful measure to help us combat bots and spammers on X, while balancing platform accessibility with small fee amount," social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, announced on Oct. 17,2023 it has begun charging new users in the Philippines and New Zealand to use basic features under its "Not a Bot" subscription method.
New users who sign up on web version of X will now be required to pay annual fee of P42.51 if they want to post content or interact with other users.
Elon Musk-owned platform "Not a Bot" subscription method should "bolster" existing efforts to reduce spam and "manipulation of our platform and bot activity."
Subscription plan is so far limited to new users created using web browser, while those created using X mobile application are still not required to pay annual fee.
Those who pay annual fee will be able to perform certain actions on web version of platform, including posting content and liking, replying, reposting, quoting and bookmarking posts.
Those who decline to pay nominal fee will only have access to "read only" version of platform, limiting them to reading posts, watching videos and following accounts, company said.
According to X, new accounts created using its web version in Philippines and New Zealand will first be required to verify their phone number. They will then be asked to select subscription plan among $1 Annual Fee, X Premium or Verified Organizations.
Existing users in these countries are not affected.
X did not explain its choice of pilot countries, although several studies have looked into issue of disinformation and use of bots to manipulate online conversations in the Philippines.
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