Elon Musk's social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, has initiated a program called "Not A Bot," reported first by Fortune, that charges a $1 annual fee for new account registrations. The program is currently active in limited territories such as New Zealand and the Philippines. This new initiative requires new, unverified users to pay a $1 annual subscription to post and interact with other posts on the web version of X, whilst existing users remain unaffected.

The purpose behind this endeavor is to mitigate spam, bot activity, and manipulation on the platform. Despite requiring subscribers, X maintains that the program is not driven by profit, instead, they claim it is an effective measure to handle malicious activities at scale.

Here is how it functions, according to X’s Help Centre:

Step One: Phone Verification - Newly created accounts in these two countries must first verify their phone number.

Step Two: Select Your Subscription Plan - $1 USD Annual Fee (would vary according to country and currency). New users can execute certain actions on the web version of the platform such as post content, like posts, reply, repost and quote other users' posts, and bookmark posts. Unsubscribed new users will have a "read-only" privilege including reading posts, watching videos, and following accounts.

Despite X's initiative to curb bots, skepticism persists with many berating an apparent increase in spam in recent months. Musk had previously indicated plans to charge all X users, however, the current test remains finite in its scope. The $11 per month premium "blue tick" labeled accounts in the U.S., specially designed for iPhones, have seemed ineffectual in preventing bot activities and scams.

Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, renaming it to X and implementing numerous decisions that stirred some controversy which include transforming verification procedures and a temporary limit on daily tweet viewing. Musk also laid off staff, attributing this to continuing revenue issues. X is currently dealing with lawsuits, alleging the refusal to pay promised severance.