During an interview, Elon Musk announced that X (formerly Twitter) could become paid for everyone in order to limit bots. Fortunately, alternatives exist.
Elon Musk continues his war against bots… and Twitter users. During an interview, the fanciful billionaire owner of the platform announced that he wanted to pay for access to X (new name of Twitter).
Towards a paid Twitter?
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, organized a roundtable on artificial intelligence with Elon Musk, Greg Brockman (president of Open AI) and Max Tegmark (MIT scientist). Broadcast on
AI Roundtable with @elonmusk, @gdband @tegmark https://t.co/98chyR5OWL
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) September 18, 2023
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I accept everything
Even before the purchase of the platform, the South African tycoon explained that the bots were very numerous and that we had to get rid of them. Despite his claims, many users agree that they have never seen as much spam as since the change of ownership. A point that Elon Musk would particularly like to correct.
During this conference, the businessman therefore explains that the only way he sees to counter this “vast army” is to make access to X payable: “a small monthly payment”. This would be a different subscription from the “Certified” subscription at 9.60 euros per month, which should cost less. Elon Musk, however, did not give a precise price range.
However, it seems important to remember that Elon Musk’s management of X is chaotic, to say the least. His ideas launched during a conversation do not always come to fruition and sometimes come up against harsh reality. We remember, for example, the company logo on the head office that the city of San Francisco had removed.
The exodus towards competition
The announcement was not without friction and it provoked strong reactions on the social network. Quickly, we could see terms such as “goodbye Twitter” or the names of different competitors trending. Today, there are three main alternatives, but they are difficult to access. Threads (by Instagram) was a great success when it launched, but is no longer accessible from Europe (without VPN). BlueSky, the network founded by Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter, is only accessible by invitation. Finally, Mastodon is available to everyone, but its very technical side makes it unappealing to the general public.
Once again, the future of X/Twitter therefore seems at least chaotic, if not uncertain.
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