Elon Musk is set to begin charging monthly subscription fees for all Twitter/X users to help offset his massive financial losses.
Twitter/X is hemorrhaging millions of dollars per day in lost ad revenue after advertisers abandoned the platform last year.
The monthly subscription fee will be less than the $11 Musk charges for X Premium verification.
“We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system,” Musk said in a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, according to The Guardian.
He added the subscription price will be “a few dollars or something” monthly.
Well lots of people be leaving for sure if this happens
Elon Musk may flip the switch to make X — the social network formerly known as Twitter — an entirely subscription-based platform https://t.co/E1ZSEgdsoQ
— Drogon (@drogon_dracarys) September 19, 2023
Musk said the monthly subscription fee is necessary to stop bots that cost “a fraction of a penny” to set up.
Bot creators will be forced to pay a subscription fee for all of their bot accounts – with a different method of payment for each one.
“Every time a bot creator wanted to make another bot, they would need another new payment method,” Musk said.
Twitter was launched in March 2006 by co-founder Jack Dorsey as a social networking service owned and operated by Twitter, Inc.
Musk acquired Twitter, Inc. for $43 billion in April 2022. The Tesla CEO complained that the platform is losing millions of dollars a day after 50% of advertisers fled Twitter.
In an attempt to make Twitter profitable, Musk introduced Twitter Blue for $8 per month and added new features, including the “blue checkmark” verification, which was previously reserved for celebrities, pro athletes, lawmakers, and other VIPs.
Musk previously said Twitter has over 550 million users who generate over 200 million posts per day.
Charging all 550 million users a monthly subscription fee would help Musk make a return on his investment.
But some say the fee would trigger a mass exodus of millions of users.
Musk, who has a history of announcing then retracting new Twitter/X features, did not respond to The Guardian UK’s request for comment.
Yeah about to deactivate. This is nothing I would pay a monthly subscription to. And the way the blocked system is set up ain't right at all anyway.
— Adore_me (@AdorexMoore) September 19, 2023
In case Musk does decide to make twitter subscription only, it might be a good idea to download your twitter archive now (before he starts charging users for that too) https://t.co/7RD4lXrtaB
— Aidan O'Brien aidanobrien@mastodon.ie (@aidanpobrien) September 19, 2023
People whine for a very small subscription fee for X, but have no gripe about these: Starbucks Drinks, Netflix, their gym membership, Biden gas prices.,,,,,, but want something free from Musk?
— Littleleers (@Littleleers15) September 19, 2023