X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, began testing a $1-per-year subscription fee for new accounts on the web that want to post or interact with other users, saying the measure has the potential to reduce spam, automated bot accounts and manipulation of its service.
The test, called “Not a Bot,” started Tuesday in New Zealand and the Philippines, X said in a blog post. New users who don’t pay the fee won’t be able to take certain actions on the site, including writing posts, liking, replying or bookmarking.
“This will evaluate a potentially powerful measure to help us combat bots and spammers on X, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount,” according to the San Francisco-based company’s blog post. “Within this test, existing users are not affected.”
