Elon Musk, owner of the platform X, previously known as Twitter, has acknowledged that his platform has a bot problem, and has confirmed that the company has plans to address this. While the proposed solution doesn’t look like it will address existing ones, it could, in theory, deter new ones.
In a post, Musk says that charging “a small fee” to allow new users to post is “the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots”. He also claims that current AI tech can pass the bot test with ease. There’s no mention of what this small fee would be like, though incidentally the social media platform did charge the Philippines and New Zealand US$1 (~RM4.79) for something similar. Separately, hashtag inventor Chris Messina has discovered code within the app suggesting something similar is coming sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots.
Current AI (and troll farms) can pass “are you a bot” with ease.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2024
This is in response to a post pointing out a change in the company’s website, which notes something similar. For new users who refuse to pay up, they’ll still be able to browse for awhile, but they won’t be able to post, like, bookmark, or reply. Responding to another post, Musk says that the wait time for new users who don’t pay the unlocking fee will have to wait for three months before being granted the usual range of user privileges.
That is way harder than paying a tiny fee.
This is only for new users. They will be able to do write actions for free after 3 months.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2024
It’s unclear for now if these will be effective measures in stopping bots at all. One could argue that the initial verification wave that Musk pushed for after acquiring the platform had the same intentions, but that didn’t stop trolls from forking up the money. Bot farms with profits in mind could probably cough up not just the unlocking fee, but its own verification subscription.
(Source: Elon Musk / X [1], [2], Chris Messina / Threads)
