Countless X users have threatened to delete their accounts as Elon Musk shared that everyone will soon face a ‘small monthly payment’.
The billionaire owner of the platform, formerly known as Twitter, fuelled outrage today as he claimed that extra charges for all users are the only way to tackle bots.
These drastic plans come less than a year after Musk’s Twitter takeover, which has already seen the platform’s blue tick verification system monetised at more than £100/$84 a year.
Now, all users face the prospect of being charged, sparking further interest in Mark Zuckerberg‘s ‘Twitter-killer’ app Threads.
‘The day Twitter becomes a pay only service is the day I move on,’ one person wrote on X.
Elon Musk fuelled outrage today as he announced that all X users will soon be charged
Another added: ‘I am done with Twitter the minute Musky tries to charge me for spending a minute here. Find me on Threads. It’s free.’
‘If Musk starts to charge for twitter, I’m out of here,’ some else chimed in. ‘Start using Threads exclusively. Twitter will lose a few hundred million of users.’
The tech titan revealed his controversial plans during a livestreamed conversation with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
‘I’d say the single most important reason we’re moving towards having 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,’ Musk said.
‘A bot costs a fraction of a penny, but if somebody has to pay a few dollars or something… you have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot.
‘Prioritising posts that are written by X premium subscribers, we’re actually going to come up with a lower tier pricing. We want it to be a small amount of money.
‘It’s a longer discussion, but in my view this is the only defense against vast armies of bots. As the AI gets really good it’s getting better at passing the captcha tests than humans.’
While further plans remain unclear, complaints have taken X by storm, with many warning that Musk could lose ‘millions’ of users.
This comes just two months after Zuckerberg launched his so-called ‘Twitter-killer’ app, Threads, which amassed a record-breaking 100million sign-ups within a week of launching.
Furious users are threatening to ditch X for Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Twitter-killer’ Threads app
The tech titan revealed his controversial plans earlier today, during a livestreamed conversation (pictured) with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu
Although Threads’ active userbase has dwindled over the past few months, many question whether it will make a resurgence if Musk’s plans come to fruition.
Like X, Zuckerberg’s platform allows users to make thread-style posts and share media content for no cost to non-subscribers.
‘If Elon Musk brings in the monthly charge he states he will – we will all be looking for new social media platforms as millions will be leaving Twitter,’ one person wrote.
Another chimed in: ‘Go ahead and charge fees to use X, because I’ll be gone and so will millions, who’ll be on threads instead. It’s your funeral party!’
One also joked: ‘Can’t he charge the bots instead?’
Although Threads active userbase has dwindled over the past few months , many question whether it will make a resurgence if Musk’s plans come to fruition
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert at ESET, also warned that requesting payment from all users could lead to a bigger problem than the bots on X.
He told MailOnline: ‘Bots have been an issue on the platform since the beginning but when Musk laid off mass numbers of employees including security staff, the issue rose to rather uncontrollable lengths.
‘Requesting payment from all users could potentially mitigate this problem but he could have a bigger problem in his hands with a mass exodus of users.
‘With many similar alternatives already set up such as Threads and Mastadon, this could be the final push for some users to crossover to the competition.’
MailOnline has approached X for comment.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
