Elon Musk is standing by his mission to begin charging new Twitter users.
This week, it was announced that the platform will soon start charging $1 annually for those who enjoy tweeting. The payment system is still in its testing phase and will first roll out in New Zealand and the Philippines. The program, known as “Not a Bot,” began on Tuesday. The yearly subscription will allow users to tweet, reply, retweet, like, and pretty much all other essential Twitter functions. According to a press release shared in Twitter’s help center, the move is meant to combat fake accounts across the app.
“This new test was developed to bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity,” the post read.
What’s unclear is whether or not the annual fee will apply to all Twitter users eventually. Per the announcement, only new users who sign up will need to pay the fee. The statement also adds that the price could vary depending on country and currency, making it highly unlikely that all users will only pay a single dollar to use Twitter. New users who decide not to subscribe will only be allowed to read posts but cannot interact with their timelines.
While the move is allegedly geared towards getting rid of bots, Musk has been on the hunt to bring in more money since he took over Twitter. He implemented Twitter Blue, a separate subscription service that gives participants a blue check and the ability to edit tweets, amongst other functions. That service currently costs $7 per month for the web interface and $11 monthly for the app version.
It’s unclear when the “Not a Bot” fee will be applied app-wide, as this is widely dependent upon the success of the testing phase.
