Elon Musk proposes small fee for new X users to combat fake accounts

By Faruk Zorlu

Elon Musk, CEO of social media platform X, on Monday proposed a small fee for new users to write, reply to, or like posts.

In a post on X, Musk said such a measure would be unavoidable in order to "curb the relentless onslaught of bots" on the website.

"Current AI (and troll farms) can pass are you a bot with ease," he added.

Further elaborating on the growing problem of bots and fake accounts spreading misinformation and spam on X, he said: "The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result."

Musk said the inconvenience of paying such a fee would be outweighed by the benefit, saying: "This is only for new users. They will be able to do write actions for free after 3 months."

No information has yet been released on the timeframe for implementing the policy or specific fees that new users may be required to pay.

In October, X initiated a $1 annual charge for new unverified users in New Zealand and the Philippines to post and interact with content in a bid to combat spam and bot activity.