This is the best summary I could come up with:
If you want to join X, the service formerly known as Twitter, via its website in New Zealand and the Philippines, be prepared to fork over $1 a year for the privilege.
X’s post doesn’t explain why the new $1 subscription is only for new users joining via the web and not the mobile app, or why Not a Bot is only being rolled out in two countries.
A guess would be that X has seen more bot activity from these regions than others, and that it’s much easier to create a bunch of fake accounts via the website.
“New users who opt out of subscribing will only be able to take ‘read only’ actions,” such as viewing posts and watching videos, according to the company.
(Confusingly, the “Not A Bot” terms and conditions indicate that people will be able to also subscribe from X’s iOS and Android apps, even though the main post on X’s help center only specifies web.)
Musk has been clear from the beginning of his Twitter takeover that he thinks charging will impede bot armies, though it’s estimated that a very, very small percentage of users are paying.
The original article contains 312 words, the summary contains 193 words. Saved 38%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
If you want to join X, the service formerly known as Twitter, via its website in New Zealand and the Philippines, be prepared to fork over $1 a year for the privilege.
X’s post doesn’t explain why the new $1 subscription is only for new users joining via the web and not the mobile app, or why Not a Bot is only being rolled out in two countries.
A guess would be that X has seen more bot activity from these regions than others, and that it’s much easier to create a bunch of fake accounts via the website.
“New users who opt out of subscribing will only be able to take ‘read only’ actions,” such as viewing posts and watching videos, according to the company.
(Confusingly, the “Not A Bot” terms and conditions indicate that people will be able to also subscribe from X’s iOS and Android apps, even though the main post on X’s help center only specifies web.)
Musk has been clear from the beginning of his Twitter takeover that he thinks charging will impede bot armies, though it’s estimated that a very, very small percentage of users are paying.
The original article contains 312 words, the summary contains 193 words. Saved 38%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Thats hilarious. Does a vpn get around this? Because if so, it wont stop botting
It would unless they started banning VPN IPs. I guess Musk is stupid enough to do it
Dont most vpn companies cycle their active ips? Or is that more of a niche thing only one or two options do
They have dedicated blocks of IPs assigned to them, he would just have to block the blocks.
Vpns are open source, commodity software. You can set one up with a script at any webhost. He would have to block every site that lets you spin up server, which is most of the internet.
Its not possible to actually block vpns without nation state access to interent infastructure, and even then it’s not easy.
- It has nothing to do with bots. Bots were his way of trying to get out of being forced to make good on his legally binding offer to buy Twitter. He goes on and on about bots, but he’s stopped reporting metrics about monetizable users and just started reporting made up metrics like number of user-seconds and crap like that.
- The funny thing would be to use a VPN to simulate traffic from NZ so it looks like they try accessing it and then just give up.
If I’m a bot owner and I could pay $500/year to ensure my 500 bots run unfettered, it might be worth it. I can influence a significant amount of discourse with 500 accounts xitting, rexitting the original xit that was xit out, etc.
If he thinks he can make money from bot managers, it may make sense.
It will probably decrease trust in the whole xitty system, but maybe Musk doesn’t care?
And you’ll use 500 accounts for that?
I think that when they are banned, you’ll have to come up with 500 new ways to pay
It’s beginning.
To my recollection, Aotearoa and the Phillipines are both common countries for market trials, right? I wonder if he’s looking to see the response (Elon Musk questioning himself? Has he gained sentience?) or if he’s specifically looking to see what impact it has on how much it costs to operate in that country?
Either way, I hope they raise the price before the international rollout.
Huh…
Shame those greedy security guys wanted to get paid so bad.
