Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is known for raising eyebrows and this time around, his latest announcement about the X platform seems to be no exception.
The billionaire has rolled out a new suggestion of charging all users of the X platform a small monthly fee and as you can imagine, people are not happy.
This new shakeup is not being welcomed with open arms because Twitter has always been a platform that’s free of cost for years. And to change that by putting it behind a paywall has people upset for obvious reasons.
The news was highlighted during a recent livestream on X where the Tesla CEO added during his interview with Israel’s prime minister that the most important reason why he has been left with no choice but to consider the payment fee decision is because he wants to get rid of bots.
Musk says it’s been an issue since day one and the only way to combat this annoying ordeal is by this means.
Does that sound convincing to you? Well, we’re not quite sure about it as many users are furious and some are now even threatening to leave the platform after the thought suggested by Musk.
Moreover, the world’s richest man added that he wants to be very clear about how he has come up with a pricing strategy that is on the lower end so everyone can benefit. He even mentioned how nothing has been decided yet and it’s still in discussion but this might be the only way to defend against the huge army of bots, he adds.
For a while now, we’ve seen Musk try to mull this idea for so long. We even saw the Platformer detailing more about how he may have had a similar discussion with his leading team of advisers in 2022.
But for now, it’s not quite clear if such comments are hinting at a change in policy for all. Whatever the case may be, people are already debating on the thought and are not afraid to voice their concerns against it on social media. As you can imagine, the last thing that the company needs is more users leaving.
Dear Elon Musk,
— Chelsea Hart (@chelseahartisme) September 19, 2023
If you want to charge for this platform you are personally putting a nail in the coffin of any and all citizen journalism from countries under international sanctions. The most brutalised among us will be personally shut up by you, while you profess “free speech”… pic.twitter.com/38EXvsoKZT
Supposedly Musk is considering making everyone pay to use Twitter.
— Bradley Wall 🏳️🌈 🇪🇺🇬🇧🌍 (@BWallArthur) September 19, 2023
If that happens I just want you all to know I've loved connecting with you, sharing my thoughts and my adventures
But sadly I will not be paying a single cent to this app
The free speech billionaire can 🖕
Happy Tuesday lovely twitter family. So Můsk has said this place will be moving to paid use only. I believe social media should be free to users, so if that happens, I'll be decamping to the other place permanently and hopefully see lots of you there ❤️
— Lαԃყ Kιƚƚყ ₜₕₑ ᵥₑgₐₙ ₛₒcᵢₐₗᵢₛₜ Ⓥ🌱🐟🦇🕷🌍 (@sparklykitten) September 19, 2023
Have a fabulous day 😘 pic.twitter.com/KXl6fNkqFN
One person added how they’ve got zero doubts about Musk trying his best to kill the app with such nonsense calls. Meanwhile, another added how the app was already dead so there’s simply no reason to be here.
A third upset netizen says that they are in no way paying for this scam, referring to it as a space vanity endeavor of Musk.
Meanwhile, celebs are also having their say on the subject including top comedian Chelsea Hart. She added how paywalls would hinder any possibility of free speech and some citizen journalism in top nations. And that is something that Elon Musk has been a strong advocate for.
They also added that if any changes were to be made to this app, it would be like putting nails in coffins and that would ruin citizen journalism arising from those nations who are under global sanctions.
And the most brutal among them could be shut down. Meanwhile, one more person added how such paywalls would force a lot of people to quit as giving out a single penny to X is a highly unfavorable task for the masses.
That particular comment got all sorts of positive feedback as the majority held the opinion that all social media apps need to be free and if not, the competition was too much and people would go somewhere else.
Read next: Elon Musk Issues Insightful Remarks On X Usage And It’s Clear That People Are More Hesitant To Post On X In Comparison To Twitter
