Musk announced that his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, will introduce two new premium subscription tiers.
The billionaire said in a post on X, “One is less expensive with all features but no reduction in advertisements, while the other is more expensive but has no advertisements.”
In New Zealand and the Philippines, the company has recently begun charging new users $1 to utilize the platform.
Mr. Musk did not elaborate further on the plans.
According to the company’s website, new users who choose not to subscribe will be limited to “read-only” actions, such as reading posts, viewing videos, and following accounts.
It is unknown whether there will be open options.
Mr. Musk has long stated that charging for the service is his solution for removing bots and false accounts from the social media platform.
Since assuming control of the company in October of last year, he has sought to entice consumers to pay for an enhanced service, now known as X Premium. Some users now choose to pay $8 per month to subscribe to the blue check service.
Its “Not A Bot” subscription method is intended to decrease spam, platform manipulation, and automated activity.
He has also attempted to entice advertisers to return to X by offering reductions.
As a result of Mr. Musk’s rapid changes, including mass layoffs and the dissolution of content moderation teams, advertisers have ceased placing advertisements on the service.
He admitted that the platform’s revenue has suffered and blamed activist pressure on advertisers.
broader concern
Other large technology companies have also experimented with a combination of ad-supported and subscription-based business models.
Unlike Alphabet’s YouTube, which offers both free and paid ad-supported plans, Netflix’s ad-supported plans are also fee-based, albeit at a reduced cost.
YouTube, which, like X, is comprised of user-generated content, distributes a portion of its subscription revenue to creators.
X, which distributes a portion of its advertising revenue with content creators, did not disclose whether content creators will be compensated for ad-free subscription models.
Despite Mr. Musk’s efforts to generate revenue on X while the company confronted criticism for lax content moderation, advertisers have not returned in droves out of fear that their ads may appear alongside inappropriate content.
Following Hamas’s attack on Israel, the European Commission launched an investigation into X last week to determine whether it complies with new tech regulations regarding illegal and detrimental content.
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