Outrage as Users from the Philippines and New Zealand will reportedly need to pay $1 to create new accounts

Outrage as X Users from the Philippines and New Zealand will reportedly need to pay $1 to create new accounts

New accounts created in New Zealand and the Philippines will first be required to verify their phone number, and then pay the US$1 annual fee to be able to post, like, reply, repost, quote posts and bookmark.

“New users who opt out of subscribing will only be able to take ‘read only’ actions, such as: read posts, watch videos, and follow accounts,” X said in the post.

The price translates to approximately, NZ$1.43 and 42.51 Philippine pesos.

“This new program aims to defend against bots and spammers who attempt to manipulate the platform and disrupt the experience of other X users. We look forward to sharing more about the results soon,” the post said.

The terms and conditions say the new charge is a beta program, and users who sign up must agree to a recurring subscription payment.

Fortune first reported the subscription plan, which costs US$1 a year for access to key functions including tweeting, replying, retweeting and liking. After Fortune’s report, X revealed the details.

“As of October 17th, 2023 we’ve started testing ‘Not A Bot’, a new subscription method for new users in two countries,” the company said in a post. “This new test was developed to bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity.

The company said in the post that the program is meant to “bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount,” adding that the fee is not meant to be a profit driver.

The test comes after Musk has encouraged users to sign up for X Premium as a way of reducing spam and scam activity on the platform, suggesting that requiring credit card payments helps verify a user’s identity and creates a higher barrier to entry for inauthentic accounts. As an added incentive, premium users receive a blue checkmark, have their posts boosted by the platform’s algorithm and are eligible to receive payments as part of X’s new ad revenue share program.

It also comes after Musk made a vague statement in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month suggesting he could start charging all users. He said the company is “moving to have a small monthly payment for use of the X system” because it is “the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.”

Experts, however, have said that many bad actors are more than willing and able to pay up for inauthentic accounts on the platform. In theory, a person could also pay to verify an account and then allow a computer to run it, thus effectively creating an automated (or “bot”) verified account.

X has come under fire in the past week over false and misleading claims that have been widely shared on the platform related to the Israel-Hamas war. The European Commission last week formally opened an investigation into X after a previous warning about disinformation and illegal content on its platform linked to the conflict.

X says it has removed “hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts,” taken down thousands of posts since the attack on Israel by Hamas and ramped up Community Notes, its program that allows users to fact check other users’ posts. “X is… addressing identified fake and manipulated content during this constantly evolving and shifting crisis,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a letter to EU Commissioner Thiery Breton last week.