X, which used to be known as Twitter, is introducing a $1 annual charge for new users in New Zealand and the Philippines as part of a scheme intended to fight against bots. This concept of a paid subscription was first suggested by X Corp. head Elon Musk in a live broadcast with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September. Prior to Musk's purchase of Twitter, he oftentimes spoke about tackling bot activity, claiming that bots were artificially increasing Twitter's digits of daily active users in order to get out of the $44 billion pact.X, the current iteration of the social media platform originally known as Twitter, is planning a test in New Zealand and the Philippines of a program called “Not A Bot” that will require new users to pay an annual subscription fee of $1 to post and interact with other posts. The company stated that this decision is intended to combat spam and bot activity, though it is not intended as a profit driver. Users who choose not to pay the fee will be limited to just viewing posts and following accounts.Previous owner Elon Musk had expressed plans to move to a subscription fee model in September, a prospect he heralded in response to assertions of misrepresented bot activity. Since taking over in October 2022, bot activity has allegedly worsened, and decisions by Musk have significantly altered the platform.Verification requirements have been changed to a paid model, trust and safety teams have been let go, and criticisms have been raised over promotional activity for cryptocurrency tokens. Competitors like Bluesky, Meta's Threads, and Mastodon have not yet reached the same level of recognition as X. A worldwide rollout date for the subscription fee has yet to be announced.
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