In a groundbreaking move, X, the social media behemoth formerly recognized as Twitter, has initiated a modest yearly fee for new users in New Zealand and the Philippines, a precedent-setting approach the company plans to globalize. New subscribers in these two nations will now be required to pay a nominal annual fee, approximately $0.75 in the Philippines and $0.85 in New Zealand, granting them access to posting and active engagement on the X platform.
Those who opt not to pay this fee will be relegated to the status of passive spectators, limited to perusing posts, watching videos, and tracking accounts, according to a statement from the company. X contends that this initiative is a critical step toward mitigating the proliferation of bots and spam accounts on its platform, while still preserving an accessible experience for users through a nominal fee structure.
The annual subscription charge represents the latest in a series of contentious changes made to the platform, ever since billionaire Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter for a staggering $44 billion last year. This era witnessed mass layoffs of thousands of employees, a reduction in content moderation, and the relaxation of criteria for attaining the coveted blue verification badge, which can now be obtained by anyone willing to pay an $8 annual fee.
This past July, the company undertook a significant rebranding effort, shedding the traditional blue bird logo that had symbolized the platform for years and adopting the new identity as "X." X has affirmed that this newly introduced fee will fortify its ongoing campaign to combat spam, manipulative activities on the platform, and the presence of automated bots.
It's important to note that this fee structure exclusively pertains to new users in the Philippines and New Zealand, leaving existing users unaffected by these changes. Recent reports have unveiled X's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, disclosing the company's intentions to experiment with three distinct tiers of subscription services based on the volume of ads encountered by users. This strategic evolution marks another instance of the platform's ongoing metamorphosis under Musk's ownership, seeking to strike a balance between financial sustainability and platform purity.
X Updates Policies Amid Israel-Palestine Violence; CEO Withdraws from Conference"
