Musk, to combat the intrusiveness of bots on X, will require those who wish to share content to pay a modest fee.
The CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk, proposed theimplementation of a tax or a tax for new users, in order to be able to perform actions on the social network such as posting, liking, replying or republishing content.
This idea, rumored last year, was confirmed during a public dialogue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the topic of artificial intelligence.
The tycoon talked about introducing a minimum tax like contrast method to the rampant bot activity on the platform.
Highlighting how current anti-bot measures are not enough to contain new AI capabilities, Musk said: “a modest fee for new accounts that wish to publish is the only way to curb the relentless bot attack.” .
The only way forward
The revision of X's pricing policy emerged thanks to the work of an automatic system dedicated to monitoring code changes on websites and apps.
This finding started further chain speculation, which finally led to Musk's intervention himself, in response to a tweet from X Daily News, a media agency specializing in social network news.
According to what was declared by the founder of X, this new regulation will not limit users' ability to enjoy content posted by others.
Those who decide not to subscribe to the service will still be able to follow the accounts and read the posts for free.
The possibility of publishing content will however be freely granted afterwards a period of three months also to those who choose not to pay the required tax.
Furthermore, joining an annual subscription plan will guarantee immediate access without impediments to posting tweets; the same ones who, in the words of the CEO, have recently caused him more damage than anything else.
“Register to unlock the ability to publish and interact” were the words of Elon Musk. “This action is aimed at reducing bots and spam to improve the experience for everyone. You can still follow accounts and browse X for free.”
Tough bots
When he speaks of a “relentless onslaught of bots”, Elon Musk refers to the growing challenges that online platforms face in managing and moderating automated bot actions.
These programs, which have recently been able to take advantage of the use of artificial intelligence, can be used to generate spam, manipulate discussions and artificially inflate the popularity of messages, thus influencing trends, public opinion and major political issues.
Traditional measures, such as CAPTCHAs, are no longer effective, as current AI often allows bots to easily bypass them.
The introduction of a tax aims to create a financial barrier to discourage bot operators from registering en masse on the platform.
No precise details have been provided at this time and it is unclear when this policy will go into effect or what the exact amount of the tax will be.
However, it seems quite plausible that it will only affect new accounts.
Previously it had been hypothesized that annual cost of 1 dollarbut at the moment it is only a rough estimate.
The introduction of a user fee could have far-reaching consequences.
On the one hand, it could discourage bots from abusing the platform; on the other hand, it could potentially drive away new users who are not willing to pay to use it.
The actual impact of this measure remains to be assessed.
It will be interesting to see its effectiveness, or whether it will remain just a symbolic move, in a situation that could reflect that of the recent announcement of Tesla robotaxis.
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