Elon Musk has announced that he will start charging users of the social network formerly known as Twitter.
NBC News reports that the billionaire businessman, who renamed the platform to Xrevealed live that the company would introduce a “small monthly payment” to combat “vast robot armies.”
Musk has long complained about the presence of fake accounts on the platform, and tried to use his concerns to walk away from his purchase deal last year.
He did not provide further details about the new fees, such as price or whether they would include additional features.
Sky News contacted X for comment, although its press office remains largely unresponsive.
The move would kill what has long been one of the site’s most popular memes, where users caption particularly striking posts with an almost incredulous “this website is free.”
X already offers a premium subscription costing £9.60 per month, which gives users a verification checkmark, allows them to write longer articles and edit existing ones, and prioritizes their account in search results .
Musk spoke about the plans in a conversation with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuwhere the You’re here And EspaceX the owner sought to respond to criticism regarding its management of the platform.
Since purchasing Twitter for $44 billion (£38 billion)the self-described “free speech absolutist” has been accused of allowing misinformation, racism, misogyny and anti-Semitism to flourish.
It also reinstated previously banned accounts like those of Donald Trump And Andrew Tate.
Last month, the platform was criticized for it takes several days to remove messages promoting Holocaust denialalthough it has been highlighted several times by the Auschwitz Museum.
Musk insists he is against ‘hate’
Musk, who has threatened to sue groups like the Anti Defamation League and the Center for Countering Digital Hate for criticizing his leadership of X, said he was “against any group attacking it.”
Referring to his ambition to colonize Mars, he said humanity would never become “a space civilization” if “infighting” and “hatred” were allowed to flourish.
Musk also used the livestream with Mr. Netanyahu to boast that X now has 550 million “monthly users,” generating between 100 million and 200 million posts per day.
It has remained popular despite increased competition from smaller platforms like Blue sky And Mastodon, and Meta’s extremely similar Threads app.
Musk has focused largely on monetizing X’s user base, as advertiser spending has fallen due to concerns about his moderation policies.
Its long-term plan is to make it an “app for everything” capable of handling things like video calls and even payments, apparently along the lines of WeChat in China.
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Musk’s conversation with Mr. Netanyahu on Monday took place during the politician’s visit to California, which was met with some protests.
He has faced huge opposition in his home country over his proposed justice system reform, which critics say would destroy its system of checks and balances.
This happened after Musk met with another world leader, the Turkish president. Recep Tayyip ErdoğanAt New York.
