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X Premium, formerly known as Twitter Blue, will soon have two new subscription tiers. Company owner Elon Musk has announced that one of them will cost less than the current plan while the other will cost more. He didn’t share the pricing details or a precise launch date.
X is readying new subscription tiers for X Premium
Musk has made several changes to Twitter since his takeover of the company a year ago. Most notably, he rebranded the platform to X and offered the verification tick as part of the Premium/Blue subscription. Priced at $8 a month or $84 a year ($11 monthly and $115 annually when subscribed through iOS and Android apps), X premium gives you benefits such as fewer ads, longer posts, edit/undo posts, longer videos, access to X Pro (aka Tweetdeck), and more.
Musk says the service will now be available in two more plans. The cheaper plan will offer the same set of features but won’t reduce ads. You’ll see ads all over the platform (the current plan reduces the number of ads by 50%). The pricier tier, on the other hand, will completely remove ads from the platform. Musk didn’t specify if it will bring a few additional features too. His words don’t suggest anything as such.
The X owner also didn’t make it clear when the new plans will be rolled out. He is known for hurrying with these kinds of changes, so the wait may not be much longer now. Musk has previously hinted at making X a fully paid social media service. This could be a baby step toward it. He may be gauging what proportion of its users are willing to pay to unlock additional features. The company has already started charging an annual fee to new users.
X is now charging new users to get full access to the platform
X is exploring various ways to reduce bot accounts and simultaneously increase its revenue streams. As part of these efforts, it recently started levying an annual fee to new users for full access to the platform. The so-called “Not A Bot” program is currently available in New Zealand and the Philippines. It costs NZD 1.43 and PHP 42.51 (equivalent to $1) a year in the two countries, respectively.
The company says this will bolster its “already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity.” New users who don’t pay the annual fee or subscribe to X Premium/Verified Organizations can only take “read-only” actions such as reading posts, watching videos, and following accounts. X hasn’t shared details about its plans for expanding this program to other markets.