Elon Musk is thinking about making us all pay to tweet
The real-life supervillain said he’s toying with the idea in a conversation with Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Photo illustration by Scott Olson via Getty Images
In a Twitter broadcast today (September 18) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk said he might make everyone pay for Twitter in an attempt to stop bots, especially those who are posting and re-posting racist tweets.
“It’s the single most important reason that we’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” he said. “It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots. A bot cost a fraction of a penny, but if somebody even has to pay a few dollars — or some minor amount — the effect of cost of bots is very high.”
He continued: “We’re actually going to come out with lower-tier pricing, and it’s a longer discussion, but in my view, this is the only defense against vast armies of bots.” Watch the conversation in full below.