Elon Musk said that he is considering implementing a paywall for all X — formerly named Twitter — users, and USC students are not fans.
In a live-streamed interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk said that “the single most important reason we’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system is it’s the only way I could think of to combat vast armies of bots.”
USC students are now concerned about the paywall affecting how X functions as a tool for open communication.
“I think anything that prevents access from people who don’t have the money to afford it is generally a bad thing,” said Cole Dubrow, a senior studying political science. “I think a town square implies it’s democratic and open to all, but if you have to pay for it, it doesn’t seem very democratic to me.”
This isn’t the first time Musk has pointed to bots as the cause for concern; after he made an offer to purchase Twitter in May 2022, he claimed in a tweet that the social media platform was “20% fake/spam accounts,” which was four times the company’s estimate at the time.
Since then, Musk has made several controversial changes impacting user experience. The creation of the Twitter Blue subscription — later rebranded to X Premium — and limiting the amount of posts users could view in a day all sparked strong reactions from the user base, but the suggestion of a paywall might be the final straw for many users.
“I think [the paywall] is just another decision in the chain of events that’s making Twitter go downhill, as far as popularity and relevance,” said John Millsap, a sophomore studying creative writing. “I feel it’s unfair to people who have loyally used the platform for the last decade or so.”