Tech billionaire Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, is planning to introduce a paid tier for all users on the platform, amid falling ad revenue. According to a report by news agency Reuters, the social media platform said on Tuesday it will test a new subscription tier and charge $1, which roughly translates into Rs 83, annually for using basic features such as liking, reposting and quoting posts.
There is no clarity whether a free version of X will continue to exist.
However, the annual fee would vary from country to country, based on the exchange rate. According to the micro-blogging platform, the paid tier will be first available for users in New Zealand and the Philippines.
This comes amid X's falling revenue from advertisement, but the company has said that the purpose of introducing the new subscription model is to combat bots and spammers. It should be noted that the new paid tier for all X users will not get rid of ads. The micro-blogging platform is looking to split its premium paid service into three membership tiers: Premium Basic - Full Ads, Premium Standard - Half Ads, Premium Plus - No Ads
According to news agency Bloomberg, in a call with X and debt holders that helped Musk finance the acquisition, the platform is currently testing Basic, Standard, and Plus variations of the existing premium plan, which currently starts at $8 each month.
To recall, earlier this month, X was hit by a new trademark lawsuit from a marketing agency. A legal marketing agency sued X Corp earlier this month and said that the micro-blogging platform's new name infringes its trademark by incorporating the letter "X". The lawsuit also claimed that X Corp, which owner Musk began rebranding to X from Twitter in July, was likely to cause consumer confusion. The lawsuit has been filed by Windermere, Florida-based X Social Media.