Elon Musk to Introduce User Fees on X Platform to Tackle Spam Accounts: Effectiveness Questioned by Multiple Users

Elon Musk to Introduce User Fees on X Platform to Tackle Spam Accounts: Effectiveness Questioned by Multiple Users

Elon Musk to Introduce User Fees on X Platform to Tackle Spam Accounts: Effectiveness Questioned by Multiple Users

According to a report by Cointelegraph, Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, is planning to charge new users a fee for tweeting in order to address the ongoing issue of spam accounts on the platform. However, not everyone believes that this method will solve the problem.

An announcement made by an account called “X Daily News” on Tuesday (16th) stated that X may expand its policy to charge new users for using basic features such as posting, replying, liking, or bookmarking. Musk responded to the tweet by stating that since acquiring Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, he has been dealing with the issue of bots on the platform. He also mentioned that the impact of fake accounts “also occupies the available namespace, resulting in many good usernames being taken.”

A similar policy was tested in New Zealand and the Philippines last October, where new users in these two countries had to pay a $1 annual fee to join the “Not A Bot” subscription plan in order to access additional features. Musk stated at the time that this would not completely stop bots, but it would make it 1,000 times harder to manipulate the platform.

However, many believe that this proposed fee structure may not deter the impact of bots. Blockchain detective ZachXBT stated that hundreds of commercially verified scam accounts appear every week, with scammers paying thousands of dollars for them. He shared a screenshot showing many fake verified Wormhole official accounts and the dissemination of false airdrop links.

ZachXBT added in his response that there is a complete black market behind these fake accounts, and the new policy will also hinder the growth of new users.

Roxo, a member of the Meta Mint team, responded to Musk’s tweet by stating that this issue has nothing to do with the creation of new accounts, but rather the incompetence of X employees in terminating fake accounts. He also added that most bots and scam accounts were created years ago.