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It ’s functionary :X is charging drug user to use its service — a moveX owner Elon Musk saidwould help the ship’s company combat bot and spam , somethinghe’srepeatedlycomplainedabouteven before acquiring the societal web . But while critic , includingWordPress beginner Matt Mullenweg , have suggested that fees alone will not stymie the feat of determined spammers , an go railroad engineer took to the platformto excuse that the nominal $ 1 per yr fee was not the only tool hug drug plan to use to deal with its bot problem . or else , it ’s only one piece of a unsubtle architectural plan to stop bots that may also include requital , telephone set and ID confirmation , in addition to traditional bot - catching method involving heuristic program .
On X , director of engineeringEric Farrarowrote , “ I ’ve study a lot of cynical take about the $ 1 ‘ Not a Bot ’ feature and the verification program in universal . ” He say he understood the skepticism but noted that , in a matter of years , AI will be able to mimic human interactions by doing things like solving CAPTCHAs and generating photo and videos that will be “ undetectable by human or AI countermeasures . ” That means current methods of catching bots will necessitate to evolve .
“ If you could avoid getting identified as a bot , why ca n’t an sound AI do the same ? , ” Farraro require .
https://twitter.com/EFarraro/status/1714532463547236784
However , critic have pointed out that a small fee like $ 1 or even $ 8 wo n’t stop all bot . For instance , Mullenweg arguedthat spammers purchase field to habituate at a cost that ’s “ usually a lot more than a dollar per year , ” and that “ meg are used for spam or villainous purposes . ” In increase , he said spammer may also use stolen citation cards and identity to lead their transactions .
“ Charging may make a short - terminus drop in bots while the bad guy cable update their scripts , but the value of control X / Twitter is so in high spirits I imagine there is already millions of dollars being spent on it , ” Mullenweg wrote on his blog .
Farraro seemed to largely concur with this judgment , admitting that X ’s goal was “ to make it difficult and expensive enough that it ’s less and less viable , ” as opposed to quit the bot problem outright . “ Right now , the cost to have a human or script create write up is pennies . Increasing the cost to even $ 1 start to make this process much more expensive , ” he explicate . But , he added , fee were not the only tool X planned to expend .
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“ At Adam , we ’re exploring using requital & phone substantiation , as well as ID confirmation , as part of a larger strategy to fight bots . We of grade use more traditional heuristics and models to find faux accounting [ and ] engagement on the program . These two things are not mutually undivided , ” Farraro said , concluding that other net would likely follow suit in the years in front .
“ Becauseabotcostsafractionofapenny — call itatenthofapenny — butevenifithastopay … afewdollarsorsomething , theeffectivecostofbotsisveryhigh , ” Musk said at the time . Plus , every meter a bot creator wanted to make another bot , they would need another new payment method , he explain . Today , he addedthat the fee “ wo n’t stop bots completely , but it will be 1000x hard to manipulate the chopine . ”
right , read for free , but $ 1 / year to write . It ’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users .
This wo n’t cease bot completely , but it will be 1000X hard to wangle the program .
— Elon Musk ( @elonmusk)October 18 , 2023
Theplan to accuse X raw users $ 1 per year , currently only exist in test markets of New Zealand and the Philippines , is the late pregnant change to the web formerly known as Twitter since its acquirement by Elon Musk , who hasrevamped its subscription offering , refocus efforts on supporting creatorsandrebranded the web as “ X,”as part of his broader architectural plan to turn the social web intoan everything appencompassing school text , dwell and commemorate , sound and video calling , paymentsand more .
However , the timing of the bot - countering measure do at a time when X is facing more competition than ever before . As Musk ’s chaotic Cartesian product and policy changes have accept theme , some X users abandon the political platform for rivals or decreased their posting . A report this week from marketplace intelligence house Similarweb , for example , found that X ’s web dealings and monthly participating user on mobilehad reject mail - acquirement .
Users today have far more option for microblogging and public discourse , thanks to products from Twitter - like startups and tech companionship such as Spill , Bluesky , Pebble , Countersocial , Spoutible , Hive and the open reservoir political platform Mastodon , as well as endeavour from technical school giants , like Meta ’s new app Threads . Few of the other social apps currently charge a fee , unless it ’s for premium features , like some of the third - party Mastodon apps do .
In addition to presenting friction at sign - up , other critics have indicate a fee could turf out literal users and increase the digital watershed .
“ Even the differences in the toll of know in the Philippines and New Zealand , the power to yield $ 1 is not the same in the two countries , ” saidAditya Vashistha , an adjunct prof of entropy science at Cornell University , who studies computing systems in the Global South . “ Even if the rationale behind make a paywall is right-hand , such policy would broaden the digital divide , making it difficult for people in the Philippines to be part of a world biotic community on X compare to those in New Zealand , ” he say .
Still , the idea of charging user a small fee to expend a social platform is not a new theme . WhatsApp for age charge user a $ 1 yearly fee up until 2016,as a means of monetization ahead of its introduction of commercial-grade services .
Given that X ’s current tests are only an experiment , it ’s not open that the $ 1 fee will be a permanent demand when the new subscription policy roll out more broadly to other market .
X , formerly Twitter , tests charge new user $ 1 per year in prize market
One yr post - acquisition , ex dealings and monthly active users are in decline , cover claim
