Musk shares his plan to implement a paywall in interview with Israel's PM

Musk wanted to implement a paywall and shared his thoughts in his interview with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu. One of the users wrote that he wants to kill the platform

Elon Musk recently had a conversation with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 18, 2023, on X, where he shared his thoughts about considering a monthly payment system to tackle the widespread bots issue on the platform. According to Musk, this move will address the issue of misinformation and spam spread through automated accounts.

Musk further said the subscription plan for all the users would make "the effective costs of bots very high" and the operator has to pay for each account. 

Israeli PM Netanyahu also questioned Musk about antisemitism and hate speech on his platform and asked about measures he is taking to prevent "vast armies of bots". According to Musk, X currently has both free services and subscription plans for individuals and brands. Musk said the only reason to implement monthly payments is to prevent bots from swarming the platform.

 

While responding to Netanyahu's question, he said, “This is a super tough problem.” A bot costs a fraction of a penny to operate, he said, adding that making someone pay a few dollars to use the X service makes the effective cost of bots higher and requires bot operators to make a payment every time they want to create a new one. During the interview, Musk was vocal about his commitment to making X a safe and responsible social media platform.

X users aren’t happy

However, the comment was unclear on whether Musk was changing the policy for everyone. But, people have already started sharing their thoughts on X.

One of the users wrote, "There really is no doubt that he simply wants to kill the platform." 

Another user, Bradley Wall, told his followers if a paywall was implemented, he would quit the platform: "I just want you all to know I've loved connecting with you, sharing my thoughts and my adventures.”

Another user shared that he would quit the platform if a paywall was implemented. He added, "I just want you all to know I've loved connecting with you, sharing my thoughts and my adventures."

One of the X users shared his plan to move to another platform, he said, "I believe social media should be free to users, so if that happens, I'll be decamping to the other place permanently."

Musk having conflict with Jewish civil rights group

Musk is also facing conflict with the Jewish civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League. Musk said that it's not easy to "police" the 100-200 million daily posts on X in advance, however, he could take steps to de-amplify hate speeches on the platform.