lon Musk has floated the concept of charging all customers on X, the social media platform previously referred to as Twitter.
The entrepreneur made the suggestion whereas in dialog with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting it could be the one option to fight bots on the platform.
Throughout a live-streamed dialog on AI, the billionaire stated the social media community was “shifting to having a small month-to-month fee to be used of the X system” to sort out “huge armies of bots.”
It isn’t clear if the remarks symbolize a concrete proposal to cost all customers, or if the transfer will likely be carried out.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder additionally didn’t reveal particulars of how a lot customers could be charged if the proposal got here into power, or whether or not they would obtain any extra options because of this.
He stated a price would make it harder for bots to create accounts as every bot would wish a brand new bank card to register, and whereas every cost could be comparatively small, the cumulative price would add up.
“It’s the one means I can consider to fight huge armies of bots,” Mr Musk stated.
“As a result of a bot prices a fraction of a penny – name it a tenth of a penny – however even when it has to pay a couple of {dollars} or one thing, the efficient price of bots could be very excessive.”
Mr Musk stated in the course of the dialog that X now has 550 million “month-to-month customers,” who create round 100 million to 200 million posts per day.
He didn’t elaborate on what number of of these customers had been real versus bots. Earlier than Mr Musk’s takeover of the platform in Could 2022, Twitter reported an “common monetizable day by day lively utilization” of 229 million.
The entrepreneur has come below hearth since his takeover of Twitter, with critics saying his ‘absolutist’ free speech place has led to a resurgence of hate speech on the community.
Amongst those that have had their accounts restored below Mr Musk embody former US President Donald Trump, Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and neo-Nazi web site founder Andrew Anglin.
Nevertheless, he informed Mr Netanyahu that he was “towards anti-Semitism”, and towards “something that promotes hate and battle”.
“I’m form of towards attacking any group, you recognize. Doesn’t matter who it’s,” he stated.
Supply hyperlink