Elon Musk continues to divide over his management of the social network . In particular, the publication of messages on the site.
This mandatory monthly subscription currently only concerns new subscribers to the social network in the Philippines and New Zealand, indicates a press release published Tuesday October 17 via the platform’s help center.
A testing phase of a new policy aimed, according to the company, at reducing the number of fake accounts and bots, these profiles managed by computer programs rather than by humans.
Pay a dollar to prove you’re human
Named “Not A Bot”, this new policy requires since October 17 new users from the Philippines and New Zealand to pay approximately $0.75 and $0.85 respectively each year to access basic functions. of the network. Those who refuse to pay these amounts will have access to the “only” “reading” function of the platform, that is to say following accounts, reading messages or watching videos. Users already registered are not affected at this time.
According to the press release published by the company, this is “to evaluate a potentially powerful measure to help us fight against bots and spammers on X, while balancing the accessibility of the platform with the low amount of the royalty,” adds the network.
The message, however, does not explain “why the new $1 subscription is reserved for new users who register via the website and not via the mobile application, nor why Not A Bot is only deployed in two countries” , wonders the American online media The Verge.
An idea which is not new, since the billionaire and owner of the social network mentioned it for the first time at the end of September. In response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to prevent the use of fake “robot” accounts accused of “amplifying” anti-Semitism, Elon Musk then indicated that X was “moving towards a small monthly payment” to use the platform.
If Elon Musk admitted Wednesday on his X account that “this will not completely stop the bots”, he believes that it will be a sufficient brake to reduce their abilities to “manipulate the platform”.
A risky business strategy for Musk
This announcement constitutes yet another controversial decision for Elon Musk since his acquisition of Twitter at the end of October 2022 for $44 billion. The billionaire has in fact made a series of changes within the teams and in the products offered, in particular to enable the company to be profitable.
In addition to making official accounts less identifiable and giving more visibility to paying users of the social network, the businessman fired thousands of employees, including a large part of the content moderation teams. , while reinstating certain banned accounts such as that of former US President Donald Trump. In July, Elon Musk admitted that the platform had lost around half of its advertising revenue since its takeover.
Choices that push certain users and organizations to leave the social network. On Tuesday, Aix-Marseille University, for example, announced that it was withdrawing from X, “taking into account its editorial development”. In a press release, the largest French university in terms of number of students criticized the social network’s choice to withdraw “from the European code of good practices against disinformation”. Aix-Marseille also specifies that the proliferation of “fake news, hateful, illicit or violent content” on the platform contributed to its decision.
A strategy which could even have more serious consequences than a simple flight of users: the European Commission announced on Thursday that it was opening an investigation targeting the social network or “hate speech”, after the Hamas attacks against Israel in early October. A procedure which could ultimately lead to fines reaching up to 6% of the group’s global turnover.