To combat automated accounts, eccentric billionaire Elon Musk proposed a paid membership plan for X (previously Twitter) on Monday, much to the surprise of the service’s users.
Elon Musk, owner of X, is plotting a method to charge all users a tiny monthly fee to use the platform in an effort to rake revenues out of a firm that is notoriously unprofitable and crack down on bots.
Late on Monday night, during a live discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk announced intentions to monetize the popular social networking website.
“The single most important reason we’re moving to have a small monthly payment for use of the X system is that it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” said Musk.
The multibillionaire argues that it would be more difficult for bad actors who build bots to maintain their operations if all users had to pay a monthly fee to access the social media platform. They probably wouldn’t use as many robots if they knew their operational expenses were going to skyrocket.
While Musk did not share the actual price, he did indicate it will be “lower-tier pricing” compared to the $8 per month that X charges its premium customers.
Speculation is mounting regarding the possible influence on the price of the canine-themed token given Musk’s long-standing advocacy for Dogecoin and the possibility of the implementation of his new pay-for-play scheme.
The cryptocurrency industry is watching with bated breath to see whether Musk follows through on his prior hints and implements a Doge payment mechanism on X. Although no firm plans have been disclosed as of yet, the prospects seem poor in light of the bitter litigation battle over Musk’s purported marketing of the token.
However, the meme cryptocurrency DOGE might easily figure into such plans given that it thrives at such micro-transactions that will be executed if X becomes a subscription-only site. It’s no secret that Musk likes Dogecoin, so it wouldn’t be shocking if he included support for DOGE payments on X.
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