Elon Musk will start "small monthly payment" for the use of X

Elon Musk, the owner of X, recently suggested that the popular social network formerly known as Twitter might no longer be free. During a live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk mentioned that the company is considering implementing a small monthly payment for the use of the X system. The reason behind this potential change is to address the issue of bots on the platform.

Musk explained, "It's the only way I can think of to combat the large number of bots. Even though a bot costs a fraction of a penny, let's say a tenth of a penny, the overall cost of bots is very high if they have to pay a few dollars or something. Additionally, every time a bot creator wants to create another bot, they would need to set up a new payment method."

The exact cost of the new subscription payment was not mentioned by Musk, but he referred to it as a "small amount of money." 

During the conversation, Musk also shared some new statistics about X. He stated that the site now has 550 million monthly users who generate 100 to 200 million posts every day. However, it remains unclear if Musk is including automated accounts, such as news feeds or spammers, in these numbers.

It's worth noting that these figures cannot be directly compared to Twitter's user base prior to Musk's involvement. Twitter used a metric called "average monetizable daily active user" (mDAU) to calculate its user count, which indicated the users who could be monetized by viewing ads. In Q1 2022, Twitter reported 229 million mDAUs.

Musk did not provide further details about his plan to introduce charges for X or specify when this change would occur. However, since taking over the platform last year, Musk has been encouraging users to subscribe to X's paid subscription service, known as X Premium (previously Twitter Blue), which costs $8 per month or $84 per year. This premium service offers various features like post-editing, reduced ad load, prioritized search and conversation rankings, longer post length, and more.

The number of paid subscribers for X Premium is not publicly disclosed, but independent research suggests that it has not attracted a majority of X users. For instance, one analysis found that only 827,615 users currently subscribe to X Premium.

It is not surprising that Musk is considering charging for X, as there have been previous reports about his contemplation of placing Twitter behind a paywall.

The main focus of the conversation between Musk and Netanyahu revolved around AI technology and its regulation, although the topic of hate speech on X was also discussed. Musk stated his opposition to antisemitism and anything that promotes hate and conflict. However, it is important to note that Musk recently engaged in a dispute with the Anti-Defamation League, as they accused both Musk and X of being antisemitic, leading Musk to threaten a defamation lawsuit.