Elon Musk Reveals Twitter's Shift to Monthly Subscription Model

Elon Musk Reveals Twitter’s Shift to Monthly Subscription Model

Elon Musk Reveals Twitter’s Shift to Monthly Subscription Model with 550 Million Users

Elon Musk discussed his plans for Twitter, now known as “X,” during a live conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Musk stated that the social network is moving towards a model where users will pay a small monthly fee to use “X” in an effort to combat the “vast bot army.”

Musk did not disclose how much the new subscription plans will cost for social network users, nor did he reveal which additional features might be included or excluded in the lowest-tier paid plans.

During the live broadcast, Musk also shared some new metrics for “X,” revealing that it currently boasts 550 million “monthly users” who generate between 100 million to 200 million posts daily.

Musk did not specify how many of the monthly users are real individuals and how many are bots, nor did he provide a direct comparison with Twitter’s previous metric of “monetizable daily active users,” which stood at 2.29 billion in May 2022 before Musk’s acquisition.

The conversation with Netanyahu aimed to address the theoretical risks of artificial intelligence technology and potential regulation for AI. However, Musk also used the opportunity to refute accusations of tolerating hate speech and anti-Semitism on his social network.

Leading up to this meeting, civil rights organizations had widely criticized Musk for amplifying biases on his social network, including tolerating anti-Semitic accounts, content, and related conspiracy theories.

In recent weeks, Musk had threatened legal action against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish-led organization, accusing them of attempting to “choke” his social network. Musk attributed a 60% drop in X’s revenue to the ADL, rather than his own business decisions, stating that he had “no choice” but to file a defamation lawsuit against the organization. Musk and X have not filed any known lawsuits against the ADL and did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Before his meeting with Netanyahu, Musk also accused George Soros’s foundation of wanting to “destroy” Western civilization. Soros, a Hungarian-American Jewish philanthropist, is the founder of the Open Society Foundations, which provides funding to various civil society organizations and has been a subject of some anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

On his social media platform, Musk has repeatedly targeted transgender individuals, federal regulatory agencies, politicians, journalists, whistleblowers, and critics of his companies. Despite this history, Musk told Netanyahu on Monday, “I’m against attacking any group. Period.” He emphasized that achieving the goal of becoming a “spacefaring civilization” would be impossible if there were significant internal strife, hatred, and negativity.

After Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for approximately $44 billion in late October, he initiated significant layoffs and comprehensive reforms on the platform. He continues to manage the company as its largest shareholder, chief technology officer, and executive chairman, while also serving as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

Among other changes, he “pardoned” numerous previously suspended X accounts, a move that drew strong criticism from cybersecurity and hate speech experts. Under his leadership, the platform reinstated the personal accounts of former President Donald Trump, who had been banned from Twitter for inciting the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, as well as accounts for Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Anglin, the founder of a neo-Nazi website.

Musk also abolished Twitter’s “blue checkmark” verification system, which helped users identify authentic accounts of celebrities, elected officials, scientists, authors, business and education leaders, professional journalists, and more public figures. Under the current system, paid users can display a blue badge next to their names and have their posts prioritized in others’ feeds, while non-paying users may experience reduced visibility or engagement on the platform. Musk reiterated on Monday that converting users into paying subscribers would make deploying bots on the platform cumbersome and economically unviable.

Currently, X is working towards obtaining a nationwide money transmission license in the United States and has reportedly secured licenses in eight states, according to public records.