- Twitter owner Elon Musk announces that two new tiers of premium subscriptions
- Users will be able to remove ads – but will have to pay a premium to do so
X (formerly Twitter) users will now have to pay a premium to avoid ads, Elon Musk has announced.
In a post on X, the tech billionaire said that two new tiers of X Premium subscriptions would be launching soon.
‘One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads and the other is more expensive, but has no ads,’ Musk wrote.
No additional information has been provided on the launch of these premium features, which come amid poor advertising revenues and rising numbers of bots.
Many users of the social media platform are extremely frustrated with the sudden policy change, with some threatening to delete their accounts as a result.
‘I’m just about done with Twitter tbh’, wrote one frustrated X user in response to the announcement.
Another echoed the sentiment of many users, writing: ‘Yeeeahhhh I won’t pay a dollar’.
And one vented: ‘Musky is coming out with a two-tier subscription for Twitter and I am probably going to bail when that happens.’
Other users complained that Musk appeared to be charging more money from the user base without providing any improvements to service.
‘As if he [Musk] needs more moolah,’ one user wrote.
Another added: ‘The willingness to turn Twitter into Spirit Airlines is admirable’, in reference to the budget airline often cited as including extra charges for seemingly basic services.
Musk, who took over the platform in October 2022, has been trying to boost revenue by charging users and by wooing back advertisers, who stopped buying ads after Musk fired most employees and disbanded content moderation teams.
However, Musk has not yet provided any details on how the supposed extra charges will be implemented or any timeline on when this might take place.
This has left users speculating over the potential cost of the ‘more expensive’ service and how the change would impact those already paying for a premium Twitter Blue subscription.
This announcement comes as Twitter starts charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines $1 (£0.82) to access basic services.
The ‘Not a Bot’ subscription plan required users to pay a yearly fee and verify their phone number to post, reply, retweet, or otherwise engage with other members on the site.
Those who opted out of the paid subscription will still be able to create ‘read-only’ accounts capable of reading posts, watching videos, and following accounts.
Elon Musk said that the change was aimed at reducing the number of bots on the platform – a key issue for Musk since his takeover and something that the company has struggled to control.
While estimates vary, researchers generally suggest that bots currently make up somewhere around 10 per cent of accounts on the site.
Cybra, a tech company which uses artificial intelligence to verify accounts, suggested that 11 per cent of all accounts on the site in 2022 were bots, Insider reported.
During the launch of Not a Bot, X’s official account tweeted that the change is ‘not a profit driver’ adding: ‘So far, subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale.’
