Elon Musk plans to turn Twitter into pay-to-use platform

Twitter/X owner, Elon Musk says the social networking service could introduce a monthly fee for all users due to the need to cut down on bots.

The billionaire hinted this on Monday during a talk with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu over the issue anti-Semitic attacks via the site.

Since he took over X in October for $44 billion last year, when it was known as Twitter, Musk has made multiple changes.

The tech mogul sacked thousands of employees, introduced a paid premium option, cut content moderation and reinstated formerly banned accounts including that of former US president Donald Trump.

He said in July the platform had lost roughly half its advertising revenue.

However, during the chat with Netanyahu, the PM raised the question of online anti-Semitism, and how Twitter could “prevent the use of bots — armies of bots — to replicate and amplify it.”

Musk replied that the company was “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system. It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.

He added; “Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny — call it a tenth of a penny — but if somebody even has to pay a few dollars, some minor amount, the effective cost of bots is very high. And then you also have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot.”

The conversation, which was broadcast on X, came as the Tesla tycoon is mired in a row with the Anti-Defamation League, a US-based Jewish organization.