Elon Musk Plans Monthly Payment For Use Of X

(RTTNews) - Elon Musk said X platform, formerly Twitter, is moving to initiate a small, monthly subscription fee for all users. The social network now has 550 million monthly users, he added in a live-streamed discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Musk, who heads Tesla, SpaceX and X Corp., was talking about artificial intelligence, anti-semitism, and his plans for X, which he bought last October.

Regarding X, he noted that the monthly payment for the use of the X system was with a view to combating vast armies of bots off the platform. The details of the plan are yet to be revealed.

During the livestream, Musk detailed that the platform currently has 550 million monthly users, who generate 100 million to 200 million posts each day. In May 2022, Twitter reportedly had an average monetizable daily active usage of 229 million.

Musk recently was criticized by civil rights groups over his approach towards anti-semitic accounts, content, and conspiracies.

He also threatened earlier to sue the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish-led organization, for allegedly trying to kill his social network.

Musk, who acquired Twitter in around $44 billion deal in late October last year, recently changed its name to X. Immediately following the acquisition, he implemented massive job cuts and significant changes to the platform with a view to improve its revenues.

The platform eliminated Twitter's 'blue check' system of verification to identify authentic accounts belonging to public figures and also restored certain previously suspended accounts.

Under the latest changes in the platform, users who make a payment will get premium service, X Blue, with a blue subscriber badge next to their names, and their posts will be prioritized in other users' feeds.

Prior to the acquisition, Twitter had reported a $344 million loss. Earlier this month, Musk said X's advertising revenue was down 60%.

The U.S. Department of Justice or DoJ earlier this week voiced alarm over the acquisition, citing testimony from former Twitter employees suggesting a tumultuous atmosphere within the company, potentially jeopardizing compliance with the 2022 administrative order mandated by the Federal Trade Commission or FTC.

Musk is currently X's largest shareholder, Chief Technical Officer and executive chairman.