Twitter, now called X is “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system” in order to combat “vast armies of bots.”
It’s owner, Elon Musk, made this known on Monday during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Musk did not say how much the new plan would cost users of the social network, or what other features would or would not be included with payment at the lowest tier.
The tech tycoon has made multiple changes since taking over the site for $44 billion in October last year when it was known as Twitter.
READ ALSO: X To Roll Out Audio, Video Calls Feature, Says Elon Musk.
He has fired thousands of employees, introduced a paid premium option, cut content moderation and reinstated formerly banned accounts including that of former US president Donald Trump.
He said in July the platform had lost roughly half its advertising revenue.
Bots — accounts run by computer programs rather than humans — are common on X, where they can be used to artificially amplify political messages or racial hatred.
During the livestream, Musk also divulged some new metrics from X, claiming it now has 550 million “monthly users,” who generate 100 million to 200 million posts per day there.
Musk did not disclose how many of the company’s monthly users are authentic, versus bots. He also did not make an apples-to-apples comparison to metrics previously used by Twitter. In May 2022, before Musk’s takeover, Twitter reported that it had “average monetizable daily active usage” of 229 million.
