Elon Musk's X Launches 'Not a Bot' Test: $1 Fee for New Users in the Philippines, New Zealand

Quincy Jon, Tech Times 18 October 2023, 12:10 pm

Elon Musk's X Launches 'Not a Bot' Test: $1 Fee for New Users in the Philippines and New Zealand to Combat Spam, Fake Accounts

(Photo: STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon musk attends a US Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023.

Elon Musk's social media platform X has started a pilot program, charging a $1 charge to new members in the Philippines and New Zealand, to combat the rising problem of spam and fake accounts. The test, called 'Not a Bot,' seeks to reduce unwanted behavior on the former Twitter.

The start of this yearly membership trial, aimed at new and unverified X users, was announced by X late on Tuesday. Existing users will not be impacted by the X Not a Bot test program but the reason why New Zealand and the Philippines were chosen for this study is yet to be disclosed by the firm, per AP News.

According to the X support account, the major goal of this project is to strengthen the platform's continuous efforts to thwart spam, manipulation, and bot-related activity while preserving appropriate accessibility. The social networking site also made it clear that the $1 charge is not meant to be a revenue source.

Starting today, we're testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected.

This…
— Support (@Support) October 17, 2023

How Does the Not a Bot Program Works?

IGN reported that there are just a few steps to follow, per the X Not a Bot program's Help Center.

The first one is phone verification. It will be necessary to validate your phone number for all newly established accounts in the Philippines and New Zealand. Then new users will have the option of purchasing an annual subscription for $1, with available options to subscribers including posting material, like posts, reacting, reposting, and citing the postings of other users. Those who opt not to subscribe can read posts, watch videos, and follow accounts.

According to the terms and conditions of the new fee, customers who sign up must agree to regular membership payments because it is a beta program.

Even though X plans to publish the Not a Bot trial's findings soon, there are already concerns in the online community about the program's effectiveness in thwarting bots because some users have seen an increase in spam in recent months.

In a previous discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk suggested that there may be a fee for every user, as per a report from The Guardian. The present Not a Bot program, however, only applies to new users.

According to the tech mogul, creating a bot can be done for very little money, and charging a small amount, like "a few dollars," would dissuade bot owners. Furthermore, requiring a fresh payment method for every new bot development might serve as a disincentive.

Elon Musk Impacting Social Media Industry

Elon Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion and made several substantial modifications, including renaming it X, updating the authentication process, and temporarily capping the number of views each day. The platform has also cut off several workers due to revenue issues and faces litigation over unpaid severance.

TechTimes previously reported that, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, X has intensified its campaign against false information. Linda Yaccarino, the company's CEO, said the Elon Musk-controlled platform has deleted hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts and removed or appropriately tagged thousands of pieces of content relevant to the militant group's catastrophic attack on Israel.