In a controversial move to combat spam bots, Elon Musk is reducing the number of messages non-Blue Twitter users can send. In addition, millions of non-paying Twitter users will be unable to send messages to those who do not follow them with a major update this week.
Announcing this change, the billionaire CEO emphasized that the lines between fraudulent accounts and real people on the platform are increasingly blurred. “Hopefully we can release the update this week,” Musk tweeted. As I’ve said many times, it’s getting harder and harder to differentiate between AI bots. Soon it will be impossible. The only surviving “social networks” will be those that require verification. The payment system is a verification tool that increases the bot cost ~10,000X.”
Paid subscription service Twitter Blue costs around $85 per year for web users.
The ability to send messages to non-followers will in the future be limited to paying users only, and this limitation will also apply to creating group chats.
While some praise these efforts against bots, others warn that it can create a barrier between those who can pay Twitter and those who can’t. Critics say this decision runs counter to Musk’s goal of making Twitter an explicit “digital town square,” a goal he made after he took over the company last year.
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