Twitter introduces $1 subscription fee to 'reduce spam'

Since taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has cut thousands of jobs at the company to cut costs and introduce new fees. Photo: ALAIN JOCARD/AFP

Twitter has started charging some new users an annual fee as owner Elon Musk continues to look for new ways to generate income.

Twitter, which Mr. Musk has renamed X, has begun testing a $1 annual subscription fee for new users in New Zealand and the Philippines. New accounts must pay a fee to be able to use features such as tweeting, replying to messages and liking posts.

Although the trial is initially limited to two countries, it will raise concerns that the fee may be extended. will be distributed more widely in the future.

Twitter said the subscription was intended as an anti-spam measure. The company called it Not A Bot in reference to the fake accounts on the platform.

The company said in a statement: “New, unverified accounts will need to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other messages. Existing users are not affected by this test.

“This new test was designed to support our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity, while also balancing the accessibility of the platform with a small amount of commission.

«It's not a profit driver.»

But it comes as the money-losing company is looking for new ways to boost revenue after advertising sales fell since Musk took over last year.

Advertisers fled Twitter following Musk's debt-driven takeover amid concerns about the billionaire's moderation policies being scrapped. A report published last November claimed that 50 of the top 100 advertisers had left.

Musk has since cut thousands of jobs at the company to cut costs and imposed new fees.

His decision to rebrand Twitter's blue checkmark user verification system as an $8-a-month subscription service open to anyone contributed to an advertiser exodus, with brands including Volkswagen, General Motors and Pfizer suspending campaigns.

Mr Musk has saddled Twitter with $13bn (£11bn) of debt after buying the social media site for $44bn last year, with only interest payments amounted to $1 billion per year.

The heavy debt burden has put significant pressure on Twitter's business. CEO Linda Yaccarino, whom Musk hired to improve relations with advertisers, said in August that the company was close to breakeven, although Musk has made similar comments in the past.

Twitter Traffic LikeWeb estimates advertising portal is down by 16.5% since Musk took office last October. Overall visits to the social network were down 14%.

“This decline is not unique to X: other leading social networks are also seeing negative comparisons,” said LikeWeb analyst David F. Carr.

But nothing Musk has done appears to have led to lasting improvements to better compete with social networks that continue to grow aggressively, such as TikTok, whose global web traffic grew 22.8% in September.

While visitor numbers are down across the board, LikeWeb reports that visits to Musk's Twitter profile are up 96% since he took office.