Twitter/X may soon charge new users to post, Elon Musk suggests

Elon wants to charge new Twitter/X users a “small fee” to post

Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), has suggested that new users may soon be asked to pay a “small fee” before they can post on the platform. This new fee should “curb the relentless onslaught of bots” on the platform. Well, at least Musk seems to think so.

This new feature has already been tested in New Zealand and the Philippines. New users in these regions pay $1 to start posting on X. This test will allow X to judge if the change will result in reduced spam and a better user experience for users. It is unknown if this new change will have its desired impact.

Musk has also stated that fake accounts have also taken up much of X’s valuable namespace. Many good handles are controlled by spam accounts, which is a problem for real users. Currently, it is unknown how Musk plans to free up these used Twitter handles. It is also unknown if Musk plans to free the handles of inactive Twitter/X accounts.

The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2024

With these new fees, Musk plans to eradicate spam on X. Honestly, I doubt that this plan will be successful. Spam accounts on X with Twitter Verified checkmarks are not uncommon, and that’s a paid-for feature. Will this change notably reduce spam, or will it just push new users away from the platform?

Honestly, I don’t see a small fee doing much to purge spam from Twitter/X. I don’t see this change killing off spam on Twitter/X overnight. That said, I do see this change generating some profit from X. After all, some spam generators will pay Musk’s minimal fee to generate new accounts.

You can join the discussion on Elon Musk’s plan to charge X users to “Tweet” on the OC3D Forums.