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Want to join X (formerly Twitter) or create a new account?
Well, it’s going to cost you.
Elon Musk revealed Monday that new users on the site will have to begin paying a “small fee” annually in hopes of limiting bots on the site.
Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots.
Current AI (and troll farms) can pass “are you a bot” with ease.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2024
Musk, of course, famously complained about the amount of bots on the site before purchasing it. But the number has grown tenfold since he took over.
Musk revealed the news after the account @xDaily showed what appeared to be an app update that noted the new fee. He did not state how much the fee would be. Nor did the app update.
This is the same Elon Musk, of course, that recently revealed he had a burner account which purported to be a two-year-old version of himself.
That account has since been deleted.
So, why now for the new changes? Musk says it’s for bot control. But a recent study by investment firm Fidelity points to another reason.
“According to a new disclosure that ran through the end of November, Fidelity — who helped Musk fund the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion — “believes that the company is worth 71.5% less than at the time of purchase,” according to Axios.”
But wait, there’s more!
“The investment firm cut its valuation of X by about 10.7 percent in November alone, from an estimated $6.3 million at the end of October to just under $5.6 million by the end of the following month, according to a recent filing.” [via The Hill]
Bots are a problem. In fact, they’re a major problem. But they’re a problem, like many others, of Musk’s own making. And the new changes aren’t likely to fix that. But they will create a new (albeit small) revenue stream for a site that is leaking money faster than you could possibly imagine.