According to a report from BeInCrypto, on October 17th, X (formerly Twitter) made known that it had begun testing the new subscription plan named “Not A Bot.”
The new test was developed to “bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity,” the company stated.
New Zealand and the Philippines are the testing grounds where users will assess a $1 charge when creating a new account. Within the test, existing users of the platform are not affected. The system will be used to determine whether implementing a nominal fee diminishes the number of spam and bot accounts.
“This new program aims to defend against bots and spammers who attempt to manipulate the platform and disrupt the experience of other X users.”
Furthermore, new X accounts in New Zealand and the Philippines will be required to verify their phone number. Those who satisfy the $1 subscription obligation will have the ability to post content and like posts.
They also are granted the ability to reply, retweet, quote other accounts’ posts, and bookmark posts. Users who choose not to pay the subscription fee will have read-only access to the platform.
There were strong opinions from the crypto community that heavily utilizes X . Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said, “Most of the bot accounts nowadays already paid
for a checkmark though.”
ChainLinkGod agreed, stating “The bot spam on the platform has gotten significantly worse, and they’re all verified accounts.”
CryptoQuant co-founder Ki Young Ju added: “In the crypto industry, $1 paywall is not sufficient, as shitcoin spammers can generate significantly higher profits from their scams.”
White hat ‘banteg’ said: “Twitter now shows notifications about receiving reports from you and they explain why spam reports don’t work at all.”
Spam gets labeled as ‘sensitive content’ by the platform, so no action is taken when a user reports it, he added.
Other users highlighted that bots and scammers use VPNs and obscure their locations, so charging by geographic location is of no purpose.
Since owner Elon Musk implemented the X premium paid blue badge verification product in November, there has been an inundation of bots and spammers. He has also suggested putting ID verification into effect or implementing a form of Know Your Customer (KYC).
If not successful in deterring bots and scammers, it may be successful in accomplishing the opposite by deterring actual humans from signing up due to the subscription fee, phone verification, and potentially impending KYC protocols being considered.