Elon
Musk has suggested that all users of X, formerly called Twitter, may have to
pay for access to the platform.
In a conversation with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the billionaire said a payment
system was the only way to counter bots.
"We're moving to
having a small monthly payment for use of the system," the Tesla and
SpaceX boss said.
The BBC approached X for
further details but has not yet received a statement from the company.
It is unclear whether this
was just an off-the-cuff comment or a signal of firmer plans that have yet to
be announced.
Mr. Musk has long said that
his solution for getting rid of bots and fake accounts on the social media
platform is charging for verification.
Since taking over Twitter
last year he has looked to incentivize users to pay for an enhanced service,
which is now called X Premium.
This has been done by giving paid subscribers more features, like longer posts and increased visibility on the platform.
However, users can
currently still use X for free.
Although there is a clear
financial interest for the company to charge users, Mr Musk insisted that
getting people to pay for the service is aimed at tackling bots.
"A bot costs a
fraction of a penny" to make he said. "But if somebody even has to
pay a few dollars or something, some minor amount, the effective cost to bots
is very high".
X Premium currently costs
$8 (£6.50) a month in the US. The price differs depending on which country a
subscriber is in.
The world's richest person
said that he was now looking at cheaper options for users.
"We're actually going
to come up with a lower tier pricing. So we just want it to be just a small
amount of money," he said.
"This is a longer
discussion, but in my view, this is actually the only defense against vast
armies of bots," Mr. Musk added.
However, a risk is that by
putting X behind a paywall it may lose a large chunk of its users. That in
turn, could drive down advertising revenue, which currently accounts for the
vast majority of the company's income.
Mr Musk's conversation with
the Israeli prime minister also touched on antisemitism on X.
The platform has been
accused by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) campaign group of not doing enough
to stop antisemitic content.
In a statement, the
organization said that Mr. Musk was "engaging with and elevating"
antisemites.
Earlier this month, he said
that the company would sue the ADL to "clear our platform's name".
In the conversation with Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Musk reiterated that he was "against antisemitism".
Mr Netanyahu accepted the
balance between free speech and content moderation was a challenge but urged Mr
Musk to get the balance right.
"I hope you find within the confines of the First Amendment, the ability to stop not only antisemitism... but any collective hatred of people that antisemitism represents," he said.
"I know you're
committed to that", Mr. Netanyahu added.
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