this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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Elon Musk has indicated that X, formerly known as Twitter, is preparing to charge all users for accessing the platform.

The X owner said erecting a paywall around the business would ward off the bots, or automated accounts, that have become a bugbear for Musk.

Speaking in a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, the Tesla CEO and world’s richest person suggested that X was going to charge its user base. Currently, Twitter only charges users for its subscription service X Premium, which offers perks such as a verified account checkmark and costs $11 a month in the US for iPhones and £11 in the UK.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Well muskrat, you'd have to pay me to go back on Twitter so good luck with that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I’ve managed to stay away from Twitter while it was free.

Pretty sure I’ll manage when it’s blocked behind the paper curtain.

In fact, they’d have to pay me to join. And with all the new paying subscriptions they’ll have, maybe they’ll have enough.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We all know he's too big of a pussy to actually do this. Stupid claim just to stay in the media

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, this claim falls under "I'll believe it when I see it." I've never used Twitter in my life, couldn't care less if it dies, but this would truly just be suiciding the site. Musk is a megalomaniac, I can't see him just straight giving up his platform.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Long live mastodon. And bluesky too, when they finally open up and stop with the invite codes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

That's a great idea! Can't wait for the end of biweekly news about how Twitter is changing, since it will die immediately.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I hope that this really starts to be the downfall of Twitter/X.

But knowing how loyal Musk’s fanbase can be, I have a feeling many will be happy to pay.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Do it. Mastodon will be ready.

You gonna catch this one, Mozilla?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I knew he was going to run Twitter into the ground, but I'm impressed at the speed and efficiency of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Who gives a shit

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I never thought there was any point to using Twitter in the first place, but now really, why would anyone stay on there?

Legacy audiences for entertainers?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

He needs revenue and this is a high risk, medium reward way to get it if he sees no end in sight on the advertising front.

And it's not like there's no way to make a subscription model work online, the NYT is doing it well. Lots of substacks and patreons are doing it.

But it's essentially launching a new company, with all the risk that entails. Subscription model flatly does not work with the network effects necessary for Twitter.

A Twitter where everyone has to pay, will not be worth paying for.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Fine by me. Accelerates the process of putting that dumpster fire out of its misery.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Right up front here, Musk is an absolute idiot, and wrong about almost everything. I am not defending him as a person, and I am not defending his specific plan here to have people pay monthly for their account.

However -- charging a small one-time fee for an actual account with the ability to post is a legitimate avenue to reduce bots. SomethingAwful forums have done this for a long time: an SA account is $10. Doing something like that (maybe not as high as $10), and grandfathering in existing accounts - that could work, because the main thrust would be using the fee as a bot-blocker.

Musk, however, just wants the money, and he's hiding that behind the idea of preventing bots with it.

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