Elon Musk said Monday he may make X – the social network formerly known as Twitter – an entirely subscription-based platform.
During a wide-ranging conversation focused on artificial intelligence with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk said, “We’re moving to a system where there will be a slight cost to usage of Twitter,” Musk stated. “This will get rid of the bots and trolls.”
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Musk did not give a timeline for his plan to charge X users, nor did he say how much it would cost. According to Musk, X has 550 million monthly active users who create 100 million to 200 million posts daily.
X advertising revenue has plunged 50% since Musk bought the company in October for $44 billion, Musk said in a July 15 post. “We’re still negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load,” he wrote.
X’s current subscription program, X Blue, starts at $8 per month. Benefits include verified check marks, ability to edit posts, reduced ads, prioritized content rankings, longer posts and videos, and a share of ad revenue.
After buying Twitter, Musk fired top management and cut the workforce by an estimated 80%.
