Elon Musk Considers Charging X Users 'Small Monthly Payment' to Use Platform

Elon Musk may start charging users of X – the social media platform formally known as Twitter – a fee to use its services.

The SpaceX founder, 52, brought up the idea of making the platform a subscription-based service during a conversation on artificial intelligence (AI) that was streamed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's X account on Monday.

“We’re moving to a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” he said, per Bloomberg's Dave Lee. While Musk did not explain what the subscription cost would be or when a paywall would launch, he noted that it would be a way for the platform to combat bots.

Musk's discussion with Netanyahu was intended to focus on AI, but also came amid criticism that X's enforcement of hate speech has been rolled back, notes CNN. Netanyahu praised Musk for his commitment to free speech, but he asked Musk to "roll back" antisemitism on the platform.

“Obviously, I’m against antisemitism,” Musk told Netanyahu. “I’m anti- really anything that is, you know, that promotes hate and conflict. And I’m in favor of that which helps society and takes us to a better future for humanity collectively.”

Musk has been implementing changes on the platform since purchasing the company for $44 billion in October 2022.

After the purchase, the platform began offering a revamped Twitter Blue subscription that allows users to pay a monthly $8 fee for premium privileges, including a blue check mark. The mark previously indicated a user was "verified" as authentic.

The change was met with mixed responses from celebrities, including Ciara, who wrote in a post on the platform, "Blue check or no check… I know my fans still checkin." The Game expressed on the platform, "Check gone but the checks still coming."

In July, Musk announced "temporary limits" to Twitter accounts, which included limiting the number of tweets accounts can read per day. After announcing that verified accounts would be able to access 6,000 posts per day, unverified accounts would be able to access 600 posts per day, and "new" unverified accounts were limited to 300 posts per day, he later announced a new update.

"Rate limits increasing soon to 8,000 for verified, 800 for unverified & 400 for new unverified," he wrote in a post on X. The change came amid the business owner's decision to rebrand the company from Twitter to X.

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"Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app. This is not simply a company renaming itself, but doing the same thing," he shared in a post on X in late July. "The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth – like birds tweeting – but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video."

"In the months to come, we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world," he added. "The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird."