X Introduces Paid Subscription: Users in Select Countries Must Pay $1 Annually to ‘Share’ Content

Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) will now charge you $1 a year to use it as a new user from the Philippines or New Zealand, the company has quietly revealed via a new support document in its Help Center, and even the official account of the messaging platform.

Called “Not A Bot,” this program is said to be a subscription model for “new users” in the Philippines and New Zealand. “This new test was developed to support our already significant efforts to reduce spam, platform manipulation and bot activity,” notes X. “This evaluates a potentially powerful measure to help us fight bots and spammers on X,” as it claims to balance the platform’s “accessibility for a small fee.” But notably, existing users are not asked to pay the $1 fee.

Simply put, if you’re a new user who wants to create an account on X, and if you’re from the Philippines or New Zealand, get ready to pay $1 a year for X to use it.

But one key factor that users need to consider is the fact that they may still be able to create “read-only” accounts to read what’s going on X, but if they want to “write” they’ll have to pay a $1 fee. .

Since then, Elon Musk has also confirmed this development. “Right, free to read, but $1 a year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users,” Musk said, replying to X’s user. Musk also added, “This won’t stop the bots completely, but it will make it 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.”

X validates phone numbers and asks users to select their subscription level

As mentioned on X’s Not A Bot support page, X first asks users to verify their phone number when signing up, and then asks them to choose from a $1 annual subscription, X Premium, or a Verified Organizations plan. As Musk mentioned, any new users who don’t want to subscribe to X and are using X for free can only perform “read-only” activities such as reading messages, watching videos, and following accounts.

That being said, it’s not clear if this test program would follow suit in other countries outside of the Philippines and New Zealand, but since Musk is following the narrative of fighting bots, it could be possible that this $1 per year model will be extended to other countries as bots are obviously not just from the Philippines and New Zealand.