X (Previously Twitter) introduced which are testing a brand new program (referred to as Not A Bot) for blocking bots and spammers that requires new customers to pay a subscription of $1/yr with the intention to publish or work together with content material.
Those that refuse to subscribe can have read-only entry.
The brand new cost is claimed to be a method to cut back spam and bot exercise.
A tweet saying the change insists the payment just isn’t meant to be a “revenue driver.”
New customers in two international locations, the Philippines and New Zealand, have been chosen to be topics of the Not A Bot check.
What Is Not A Bot?
Not A Bot is a Beta Program, a check of a subscription plan for brand new customers.
A Assist Heart web page states that new X customers within the two check international locations are required to confirm their telephone quantity.
Profitable verification then results in the following step which is paying one greenback to work together with others on X.
The intent of the Not A Bot program is to weed out bots and cut back spam, a method to defend platform integrity in a way that scales.
Not A Bot is described as a beta program. Beta standing usually means one thing that’s availble for public testing.
Normally, if the checks are profitable the beta program turns into a principal characteristic however no point out of this risk was made within the announcement.
In response to a brand new Phrases and Circumstances web page:
“The Not-a-Bot Program is a beta program that X is testing for platform integrity enhancements.”
What Do Not A Bot Subscribers Get?
New subscribers should pay for options which are usually free:
- Bookmark posts
- Like posts
- Publish content material
- Reply to posts
- Repost/Quote posts by different accounts
New customers who decline to pay the annual payment will probably be restricted to the next:
- Observe different members
- Learn tweets
- Watch movies
Not A Bot Phrases And Circumstances
Customers who join the brand new program are sure by a brand new Phrases and Circumstances that requires new customers to agree that they don’t seem to be be entitled to a refund if this system is cancelled.
The brand new phrases and situations states:
“All options and performance of the Program will probably be decided by X in its sole discretion, and X could modify, pause, or discontinue the Program at any time with no refund to you.”
The official announcement that was tweeted states:
“Beginning right now, we’re testing a brand new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified accounts will probably be required to join a $1 annual subscription to have the ability to publish & work together with different posts. Inside this check, present customers usually are not affected.
This new check was developed to bolster our already profitable efforts to scale back spam, manipulation of our platform and bot exercise, whereas balancing platform accessibility with the small payment quantity. It’s not a revenue driver.
And to this point, subscription choices have confirmed to be the principle answer that works at scale.”
Response To Announcement
Accounts on X challenged the viability of this system by noting that bots and scammers already pay $8 per 30 days for entry.
Many customers famous the uselessness of charging for accounts when bots already paid for entry:
A lot of the bot accounts these days already paid for a checkmark although. pic.twitter.com/ZnzNgz6dEa
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 18, 2023
One other tweeted:
absolutely a bot farm is prepared to pay $1 for that stage of entry and revenue
— andrewhayes (@andrewhaye_s) October 18, 2023
Not all thought it was a dumb thought.
One person famous that the verification hurdle and fee could discourage bot farmers who search to open 1000’s of accounts.
The purpose is the fee has to come back from a verified supply. So how are they going to open 10000 diff accounts?
— yourNotSoLocalPassportbro (@sockfulofnickls) October 18, 2023
Will this actually work? Shall be attention-grabbing to see if it does.
The larger query is whether or not X will roll this out globally if the check is deemed successful.
Featured Picture by Shutterstock/thongyhod
