Entire Twitter Behind Paywall? Elon Musk Hints All X Users Should Pay To Access Platform To Tackle Bot Problem

After locking up most of the useful features behind the "Twitter Blue" subscription, Elon Musk has openly suggested that all users should pay to access X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

In a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk hinted that his social media platform is considering a "Pay to Use" system. However, he has indicated that the primary reason to ask all users to pay is not to boost revenue, but to address the problems of automated posting systems, commonly called bots.

Charging For Verified Accounts Was Just The Beginning For Elon Musk And X (Twitter)?

Elon Musk acquired Twitter for a whopping $44 Billion about a year ago. Even before the acquisition, Musk had been vocal about the rampant bots on the platform. He claimed the number of bots was concerningly high, so he ended up overpaying for the platform.

Shortly after taking Twitter private, Musk jacked up the price of the "Twitter Blue" subscription. Gradually, he started putting useful features behind the subscription paywall. Musk is essentially selling the once-coveted Blue Tick of verification.

Musk has always claimed he is charging for verification (Blue Tick) because he wants to counter the bot menace. However, moving forward, the entire X (Twitter) platform could be put behind a paywall, basically forcing all users to pay to use the platform.

Will X (Twitter) Get A Cheaper Subscription For All Users?

Signing up for Twitter and using the platform is currently free. For a long time, Twitter's primary source of revenue was advertising. However, after Elon Musk acquired Twitter several advertisers have reduced their spending on the platform, while a few have stopped completely.

The X Premium (Twitter Blue) subscription currently costs $7.99 per month, it is still voluntary. The subscription unlocks many features such as longer posts. Additionally, the visibility of the content posted by paid members is higher than that of free users. Needless to say, there are a lot of incentives to pay for a subscription and many downsides to remaining a free user on X.

While there's a clear financial incentive to charge all users, Musk has maintained that he wants to fight the bots and their relentless onslaught on the platform. He claims bots ruin the user experience and they are very cheap to set up and operate.

"We're moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system. We're actually going to come up with lower-tier pricing. So, we just want it to be just a small amount of money."

"A bot costs a fraction of a penny. But if somebody even has to pay a few dollars or something, some minor amount, the effective cost to bots is very high".

This clearly suggests Elon Musk could be planning to offer a cheaper alternative to the X Premium subscription. However, paying to access X could become mandatory in the near future.

It is not clear how this move could affect the platform. However, X could lose a lot of users, and as a consequence, advertisers too.