Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, has revealed plans to charge new users a fee before they can post on the platform.

Musk stated that this decision is necessary to combat the issue of bots on the platform, noting that previous measures to address the problem have been ineffective.

“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,” Musk commented in response to an X account discussing the platform’s policy on new accounts.

However, Musk did not provide specific details regarding when this fee would be implemented or how much new users would be charged.

Last October, X began charging new unverified users in New Zealand and the Philippines $1 per year. These users could read posts but had to pay a fee to interact with them, such as posting content, liking, reposting, replying, bookmarking, and quoting posts. Musk may extend a similar fee structure to other regions.

Recently, Musk announced a cleanup initiative to remove bot accounts and trolls from the social media platform, resulting in the suspension of millions of accounts.

Furthermore, Musk stated that X would not only suspend bot accounts but also track down their owners and pursue legal action against them.

The decision to combat bots comes after complaints from users and advertisers about the prevalence of automated accounts on the platform, overshadowing genuine human users.

Bots are automated accounts on X capable of performing actions such as liking posts, reposting tweets, following and unfollowing accounts, and sending direct messages without human intervention.

“System purge of bots & trolls underway. Please reply to me or @Xeng if legitimate accounts are suspended. X Corp will be tracing the people responsible and bringing the full force of the law to bear upon them,” Musk declared.

While Musk has celebrated the growing user base on X since acquiring the company in 2022, increasing concerns about bot activities have prompted him to take decisive action, potentially impacting the platform’s user demographics.