Elon Musk considers imposing monthly subscription fee on X (formerly Twitter) users

Heads up, X (formerly Twitter) users!

The social media platform may no longer be free as CEO Elon Musk revealed his plan to charge its users a "small monthly payment" to be on the site. According to a report by CNBC News, the businessman floated the idea for X during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where they talked about technology as well as the risks that come with it.

Musk said that one of his key plans for X is to impose a monthly subscription fee on its members, suggesting that the move would be necessary to deal with "bot problems" on the platform.

“It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” he explained. 

While Musk has yet to provide further details on the planned fee, he said that it would just be a "small amount of money."

The billionaire CEO also said that X now has 550 million monthly users. CNBC News, however, noted that he "did not disclose how many of the company’s monthly users are authentic, versus bots." He also "did not make an apples-to-apples comparison with metrics previously used by Twitter."  

Musk bought X for $44 billion in October. The social media site rolled out its Blue subscription all over the world, including the Philippines, earlier this year, letting users enjoy several perks and features that augment their app experience. The Blue subscription is worth P440 monthly, or P5,280 annually. There's also an annual plan of P4,600, amounting to P383.33 monthly under a 12% discount.