X to start charging users ‘small fee’ 

LONDON: Social media platform X will begin charging people to use the site in an attempt to reduce the presence of fake accounts on the platform, Elon Musk suggested on Monday.

In a live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk said the company was “moving to a small monthly payment” for the use of the X system.

“It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” he explained.

Details of the so-called “small fee” have yet to be disclosed, and it is still unknown whether the “subscription” would provide any special features to users.

X already offers a premium subscription with a monthly fee of $8 per month for web users, or $11 per month for iOS and Android users.

Subscribers to the premium service receive a verification tick, the ability to write longer posts, the ability to edit existing posts, and priority placement in search results.

In his meeting with Netanyahu, Musk also discussed the criticism he has faced for his management of X.

The world’s richest man has been under intense public scrutiny for letting hate speech and disinformation thrive on X since he bought the company for $44 billion in 2022.

While new platforms such as Meta’s recently launched Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon have emerged to compete with X, it has remained popular with 550 million monthly users in September.

Musk’s acquisition of the platform is part of his long-term plan to transform X into an “everything app” — a one-stop shop for video calls, payments, and more.