In the future, it’s not entirely impossible that everyone who wants to use X, formerly Twitter, will have to pay to do so. This is something that X’s owner, Elon Musk, stated when discussing online hate and antisemitism on the platform with Israel’s President Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.
According to Musk, a small monthly fee is the only way for X to ensure that the millions of bots wreaking havoc on the platform cannot continue to spread antisemitism and other unwelcome content on X. During the conversation with Netanyahu, Musk said, among other things:
We’re wanting it to be just a small amount of money. It’s a longer discussion, but in my view this is the only defense against vast armies of bots, because as AI gets very, very good, it’s actually able to pass these sort of CAPTCHA tests better than humans.
Exactly how much Musk believes X users should pay to use the service was not mentioned. But it appears to be less than the $8 per month that X’s premium users currently pay. Whether Musk will proceed with charging for the use of X remains to be seen.
