Elon Musk's X to launch premium subscriptions soon

The logo for social media platform X, following the rebranding of Twitter, is seen covering the old logo in this illustration taken, Jul 24, 2023. REUTERS

Elon Musk said on Friday social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, will soon launch two new tiers of premium subscriptions.

"One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads, and the other is more expensive, but has no ads," Musk said on a post on X.

Musk did not provide more detail on the subscription plans.

Earlier this week, the company started charging new users $1 in New Zealand and the Philippines as a test case for accessing the platform.

New users who opted out of subscribing will only be able to take "read only" actions, such as: read posts, watch videos, and follow accounts, the company said in its website.

Its "Not A Bot" subscription method aims to reduce spam, manipulation of the platform and bot activity.

Since taking over the platform in October 2022, Musk's rapid changes, including mass layoffs and disbanding content moderation teams, has led to advertisers halting ads on the service.

Musk has acknowledged that the platform has taken a hit on revenue and has blamed activists for pressuring advertisers.

To generate revenue, Musk started charging $8 per month for the blue check subscription service and tried to woo advertisers back to X with offers of discounts.