Elon Musk says Twitter is moving to monthly subscription fees and has 550 million users
During a livestreamed chat with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Elon Musk discussed his aspirations for Twitter, now known as X.
Among other things, Musk said the social network is “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system” in order to combat “vast armies of bots.”
Musk did not specify how much a new plan would cost Facebook users, or what other things would or would not be included with the lowest tier of payment.
During the livestream, Musk also revealed some new X figures, stating that the company now has 550 million “monthly users,” who make 100 million to 200 million posts each day.
Musk did not say how many of the company’s monthly users are real people as opposed to bots. He also did not make an apples-to-apples comparison with Twitter’s previous measures. Before Musk’s takeover, Twitter reported 229 million in “average monetizable daily active usage” in May 2022.
The meeting with Netanyahu was supposed to center on the theoretical threats of artificial intelligence technology and how AI may be regulated. Musk, on the other hand, used it to refute the idea that his social network tolerates hate speech and antisemitism.
The discussion came as human rights groups slammed Musk for amplifying racism on his social network, including antisemitic accounts, content, and theories.
Musk has vowed to sue the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish-led organization, in recent weeks, stating that they attempted to “kill” his social network. Musk has blamed the ADL, rather than his own business actions, for a 60% decline in income at X, saying he had “no choice” except to sue the group for slander.
Musk also accused George Soros’ foundation of wanting to “destroy” Western civilisation before meeting with Netanyahu. The Hungarian-American Jewish philanthropist founded Open Society Foundations, which gives to a range of civil society organizations, and he has been the focus of various antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Musk has regularly disparaged transgender people, federal regulators, lawmakers, journalists, whistleblowers, opponents of his firms, and short sellers on his social media platform. Despite this background, Musk told Netanyahu on Monday, “I’m sort of against attacking any group.” It makes no difference who it is.” “We can’t do that if there’s a lot of infighting and, you know, hatred and negativity,” he remarked, referring to his vision of humans becoming a “spacefaring civilization.”
Musk executed major personnel cuts and extensive modifications to the network after acquiring Twitter for approximately $44 billion in late October. He continues to lead the corporation as its largest shareholder, chief technology officer, and executive chairman, as well as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
Among other things, he granted “amnesty” to previously terminated accounts, which was widely lambasted by internet safety and hate speech specialists. Under his leadership, the site reinstated former President Donald Trump’s account, which had been suspended by Twitter for supporting a Capitol insurgency on January 6, 2021. Musk’s Twitter also reinstated Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and neo-Nazi website founder Andrew Anglin’s personal accounts.
Musk also removed Twitter’s “blue check” verification system, which allowed users to identify real accounts belonging to public people such as celebrities, political officials, scientists, authors, business and education leaders, professional journalists, and others.
Users that pay a charge can display a blue subscriber badge next to their names under the present arrangement. Those that pay have their posts prioritized in the feeds of other users. Those who do not pay may see their posts receive less amplification or have lower engagement on the network. On Monday, Musk reiterated his conviction that converting users to paying subscribers would make it difficult and expensive to install bots on the site.
X is currently attempting to secure permits to operate as a money transmitter in the United States. According to public documents, it has already been granted license in eight states.
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