Elon Musk, the owner of the social networking platform, has revealed that X intends to impose a "small fee" on all new members in order to allow them to engage with postings.

Highlights:

• Elon Musk suggests charging new X users to deter bots.
• Platform faces a spam surge despite past efforts.
• Revenue strategies, including user fees, under discussion amid challenges.

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla stated that the "only way" to prohibit phony or bot accounts on the site is to charge new users to post, like, and react in response to an account that has written about the potential changes.

When X, then known as Twitter, introduced a test program in the Philippines and New Zealand last year, new users had to pay a one-dollar annual membership fee to access some functions.

According to Mr. Musk's remarks, the trial will now be conducted on a larger scale.

"Sadly, the only way to stop the unrelenting onslaught of bots is to charge new users a small fee for write access," he stated.

“Are you a bot? ” can be easily passed by current AI (and troll farms).

"Many decent handles are taken as a result of the flood of bogus accounts, which also consumes up the available namespace.”

Mr. Musk said that the price could only apply for the first three months when a new user joins the platform in response to another account that questioned the strategy.

When the billionaire took over the network in late 2022, he stated that eliminating false and bot accounts was a top focus. But since then, a lot of users have complained about seeing more spam, partly because of Mr. Musk's significant workforce reductions, which included the content moderation team at the company.

Some have also linked the increase in exposure of spam content to the redesign of the verification system, which allows anybody to pay to be confirmed on the platform and have their posts and answers featured more prominently.

In the past, Mr. Musk has hinted that using X would someday require payment from all users.

According to reports, since he took charge, the platform's revenue has significantly decreased as advertisers have left due to worries about Mr. Musk's support of "absolute free speech" and his willingness to host more controversial content.

In an attempt to create new revenue sources, the firm has resorted to subscription services, such as X Premium, which lets users pay to be verified.