Sunday, April 20, 2025

Musk to charge new X users to post, but some say it won’t stop the bots


Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is planning to cost new customers to tweet in an try to curb an ongoing spam downside on his microblogging platform X, although not everyone seems to be satisfied this may stem the tide of crypto-scam touting bots.

X proprietor Elon Musk said “Sadly, a small charge for brand new person write entry is the one option to curb the relentless onslaught of bots,” on April 15 in reply to a put up by the ‘X Day by day Information’ account concerning the testing of a spam discount coverage.

The announcement stated that X is perhaps increasing its coverage to cost new customers to make use of fundamental features akin to posting, replying, liking or bookmarking a put up.

Musk stated instruments akin to CAPTCHA can already be bypassed by present AI and “troll farms” with “ease.”

Supply: Elon Musk

Musk has been battling the bots ever since he took over Twitter in a $44 billion deal that was accomplished in October 2022.

He stated the onslaught of pretend accounts “additionally makes use of up the accessible namespace, so many good handles are taken because of this.”

An analogous coverage was already implemented in New Zealand and the Philippines on a trial foundation in October. The ‘Not A Bot’ subscription methodology for brand new customers in these two nations required a $1 cost to entry extra options.

“This gained’t cease bots utterly, however it is going to be 1000X more durable to control the platform,” stated Musk on the time.

Many nonetheless argue that the brand new potential expenses gained’t stop the onslaught of bots.

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT was amongst many who didn’t agree with the tactic, stating:

“There are tons of of enterprise verified rip-off accounts each week which scammers pay hundreds of {dollars} for.”

He used a screenshot of a doubtful verified Wormhole X account that was posting spurious hyperlinks for an airdrop.

“There’s a complete black marketplace for these accounts,” he stated earlier than including that it’ll additionally “kill new person development.”

Meta Mint group member “Roxo” said: “The difficulty has nothing to do with new accounts being made its that X employees are utterly ineffective at terminating pretend accounts,” earlier than including that almost all of bots and rip-off accounts have been created years in the past.

Associated: Elon Musk offers users free premium features on X, crypto scammers included

In late March, Musk said that accounts with 2,500 verified subscribers as followers would not must pay for “Premium” options. Nonetheless, the power to buy verification standing on the platform might have opened the doorways for scammers, reported Cointelegraph.

Earlier this month, X announced that it was beginning a “vital, proactive initiative to remove accounts that violate our guidelines in opposition to platform manipulation and spam.”

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