X/Twitter Tests Charging New Users $1/Year for Posting

X/Twitter has launched a new experiment in New Zealand and the Philippines where new users now need to pay $1/year to access basic features such as posting and interacting with other posts. The platform previously known as Twitter explained that the new subscription was “not a profit driver,” but that it should help to reduce its spam problem.

The company actually named this new experiment the “Not a Bot” program, and said that “subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale.” While nothing is changing for existing X/Twitter users in New Zealand and Philippines, new users in these countries will also need to verify their phone numbers if they want to subscribe to the $1/year Not a Bot Program. Otherwise, they will only be able to use X as a read-only experience.

“It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users,” Musk posted on X. “This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.

Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users.

This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2023

Twitter had a bot problem long before the company was acquired by Elon Musk, and putting basic features behind a paywall may be a solution to this problem. However, it’s guaranteed to be a very unpopular one. “We look forward to sharing more about the results soon,” the company said in a support page.

Musk recently suggested putting the entirety of X behind a paywall to address this spam problem. Recently, the X owner also made TweetDeck (now X Pro), a popular Twitter dashboard for power users only accessible with an $8/month X Premium (previously Twitter Blue) subscription.