X to begin testing annual fees for unverified accounts

Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
X
Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition on March 9, 2020, in Washington. Musk, Twitter’s new owner, is further gutting the teams that battle misinformation on the social media platform as outsourced moderators learned over the weekend they were out of a job. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The social media platform X announced on Tuesday a test program that new unverified accounts will be charged with an annual fee in order to use the service.

The “Not A Bot” program began testing in New Zealand and the Philippines, where new users were required to pay a $1 annual fee for the benefit of posting and interacting with other posts.

Users who decide to opt out of the program will only be able to read posts, watch videos and follow accounts.

According to the post by X, this program is meant to mitigate the large influx of bot activity on the platform while reducing spam from its users.

Existing users will not be affected as part of the test.

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