Elon Musk Says All X/Twitter Users Will Soon Have to Pay to be on Platform

Twitter will soon be charging a monthly fee for all users, no matter their verification status. 

Elon Musk confirmed the news during a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which he livestreamed for his followers. During the chat, the Tesla founder shared his plans to completely transition Twitter, also known as X, to subscription only.

“[We’re] moving to a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” he said, explaining that this is necessary to keep bots off the app. 

Twitter already has a subscription tier, Twitter Blue or X Blue, that gives its buyers a verified checkmark next to their usernames and the ability to edit their tweets. However, it needs to be clarified if the new monthly fee will be priced differently and when it will begin. It is also unknown if everyone will now be given a blue check after paying and have the ability to change their posts.

During the chat with PM Netanyahu, the tech founder said that Twitter was now up to 550 million monthly users, who tweet between 100 and 200 million posts each day, CNBC reports.

While Musk claims making users pay for the app will eliminate fake accounts, it could be just another money grab. The subscription service was a means of bringing in revenue after a tumultuous acquisition in 2022. As of July 2023, the ad revenue saw a 50% dip. Musk has recently resorted to paying creators in the Twitter Blue subscription for tweets that get high engagement. This has been an incentive of sorts to get more users to purchase the monthly service, starting at $8.

Twitter users, will you pay to continue tweeting?