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submitted 1 year ago by t4k3@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Elon Musk said he will charge all X/Twitter users a fee to be on the platform. He suggested that such a change would be necessary to deal with the problem of bots on the platform.

“It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots," said Elon. I can’t believe that this is the only solution he can think of.

Dealing with bots would be Elon Musk’s responsibility, considering he’s the only one profiting significantly from X, not us. Elon Musk steals our data and censors each of our posts, now he even expects us to pay to clean up the mess he created.

Plus, the problems with X go beyond just bots. The algorithm and programming decisions are negatively impacting user experience and manipulating people’s minds.

We want a town square where everyone is free to have & voice an opinion. I do not believe we have to pay ”a small monthly payment” for such a place, especially in a country that should value these freedoms & suppressing ideas.

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[-] TehWorld@lemmy.world 158 points 1 year ago

I’m not willing to use it now, for free… not sure if this plan will incentivize me to join up.

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[-] zoostation@lemmy.world 69 points 1 year ago

I'll tell you next week when I stop laughing.

[-] whitecapstromgard@sh.itjust.works 58 points 1 year ago

I wasn't even using it when it was free!

[-] NENathaniel@lemmy.ca 54 points 1 year ago

I'm not opposed to paying for services I enjoy/find value in, and from companies I don't dislike

Twitter does not pass these guidelines

[-] tdawg@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago

I don't use Twitter for free

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[-] Fisch@lemmy.ml 45 points 1 year ago

I'm not even willing to use it for free 💀

[-] FleetingTit@feddit.de 9 points 1 year ago

I'd be willing to use it if I get paid though. 10$/month and I'd even post something once in a while.

[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 42 points 1 year ago

I suspect the majority of people who would pay for twitter already are.

[-] 50MYT@aussie.zone 12 points 1 year ago

And it's a laughably low amount.

Someone posted a few weeks ago that it's like 60,000 people who are blue checked and not getting it for free.

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[-] FireWire400@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

Twitter ad sales have plunged 50% since he bought the company

Can't imagine why.... Nope

[-] 2lama@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't use twitter if they paid me

[-] emax_gomax@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

I would pay them for a product that suppresses all news about Elon musk so i dont have to read about him every other day. Now that's a growth market.

[-] m13@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

Oh yes, certainly. Wow Mr Musk you’re such a genius and good decision maker, please start charging for Twitter. Please don’t listen to the naysayers and go ahead with the brilliant business strategy. I’m definitely not taking delight in your constant series of self-owns.

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[-] Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago

I’d be willing to pay $100/month for it. Please charge at least that much!

Pay no attention to the fact that I used it once for like a week 15 years ago. That’s only because it was too free!

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

Hello poor people, it should at least be $1000!

[-] Clown_Tempura@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

I refused to use this cancerous hellsite long before its 'fall' what makes you think I want to use it now?

[-] theKalash@feddit.ch 19 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't be willing to use if I was getting paid.

[-] obinice@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

I don't use fascist websites at all, I'm certainly not going to pay for one. Come now.

[-] Pohl@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

We have reached the point where I want answers from any person or organization that is still active on twitter. They are actively legitimizing nazis. If you are on twitter, you are part of the problem. I’m not gonna draw lines around which people on a right wing reactionary platform are the “good ones” any more.

[-] TheMadnessKing@lemdro.id 17 points 1 year ago

One more wave for Mastodon for sure.

[-] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 17 points 1 year ago

Oh wait, you're serious. Let me laugh even harder!

[-] hal_5700X@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

No, Twitter/X always been shit. Yes even before Elon Musk became the CTO. It was awful under Jack Dorsey.

[-] ForgetReddit@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

It was actually a lot of fun for alt comedy and staying in touch with friends 10-15 years ago. Once Trump won in 2016 it turned into a nonstop tire fire with him pouring kerosene on it daily. It never completely recovered from that, and obviously it’s gotten far far worse under Elon. That’s when I finally had to cut ties, even if it’s been fading for years.

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[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

I hope he actually does this. Twitter will die almost immediately and become completely worthless.

[-] 4lan@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Then he can file bankruptcy and not have to pay back the loans he took out to buy Twitter

I think it's all his plan. Naming it X was the big red flag for me

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[-] mochisuki@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

A monthly fee seems idiotic but yes please do it! Please!

That said I think a $5 signup fee on Mastodon or Lemmy that is not refunded if you get banned would seriously help stop bots. They only make pennies per bot and if you make their cost even minimally painful the economics fall apart.

[-] Fisch@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago

It would also stop most regular users from signing up. This kind of stuff being free has just become the norm.

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[-] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 year ago

I hate twitter!

Use mastodon.

Twitter has just gotten worse and worse!

Use mastodon.

If only there were some other platform!

...

[-] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 12 points 1 year ago

Here's the thing - you don't need either of them

[-] PupBiru@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

and you don’t need lemmy/kbin either, but yknow we like it

what’s your point?

[-] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Could be they ment

I'm not addicted to Lemmy, I can quit any time I want.

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[-] d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Whilst I mostly agree with you, what I use Twitter for, and now Mastodon, is to get real-time updates on projects and events. I follow projects like Asahi Linux (where devs post updates from their personal accounts), or various service providers or trending hashtags to get real-time updates on events, such as say an M365 outage, a zero day vulnerability, or a natural disaster (eg: earthquakes). Sure, there are other sites as well that report on events, but these sites mostly get their updates from Twitter (and not having an account on it would exclude you from participating). Thanks to Twitter, I've been able to interact directly with developers, netsec folks, organisations and just randoms from across the world - all of which, has been convenient to do so via a single platform. It's kinda hard to replicate that sort of interaction across other platforms.

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[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

If you want a free (in all its meanings) platform to speak on just use Mastodon

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[-] BrazenSigilos@ttrpg.network 15 points 1 year ago

If I had to pay to use a social media service, it would have to be something I found utterly necessary. I'm not a fan of the trend toward everything being a subscription, so if any service unexpectedly changes to a subscription based service, I'm far more likely to experiment with cutting it out of my life and routine to see if I really needed it to begin with. So far out of the hundreds of subscription service I've had over the last 15 years, I've resubscribed to only 10 or so, and out of those only 3 where because I genuinely valued the service enough to pay for it, rather then because I had gotten an offer for 3 months free, then terminated the account before I was charged for anything. Why pay a provider to use my data for profit and show me ads I have no interest in or desire to see? If I wanted commercials I would watch cable, instead of using a streaming service I explicit choose for not showing constant ads.

I would treat Lemmy the same way. If I had to pay, I wouldn't play. There are other options for my time, simple as that.

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[-] dinckelman@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

You would have to pay me, for me to be there

[-] rglullis@communick.news 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

For those that are saying "no" because it's Musk: would you be willing to pay to your account on Lemmy, Mastodon, or any other social network that you happen to use?

Let me be specific: I am not asking if you donate or contribute to any server. I am asking if you'd sign up to a social network that required payment from every user as a measure to avoid spammers and to keep the service running.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

No. Not today at any rate. I probably would have supported a subscription for Reddit 5-8 years ago. The community and content was better. Lemmy/Kbin/Mastodon hasn’t caught up to that level yet so I don’t see a point in paying for that. Facebook has gone full stupid - they should pay me for all the data mining they use me and my connections for. I rarely use FB for the social aspect anymore, I belong to many hobby and interest groups on it and use it more like a forum than a “highlight reel of my life” thing.

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[-] kttnpunk@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

I think this marks the true end of twitter. Undoubtedly, some people will literally pay to have ol' muskys thoughts shoved in their face and get their data collected, see garbage alt-right memes but if he fails, if he can't even make it a premium-feeling cult experience now... (which obviously his vision, but let's be real it's a longshot- he's only gonna be a clown) I don't see it lasting much longer.

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[-] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 year ago

For this money I would rather donate, pay for membership or create my own Mastodon instance.

[-] Tsunami45chan@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I hate Musk because as an artist there are many artist on twitter (X) that I really like. One of it is Naoki Saito & Mika Pikazo and then some useful things likes pose maniac to help out artist to get pose ideas. A lot of Japanese makes oneshot or it's continuous story manga on twitter. The reason why I stay a little longer because of the artist of twitter but now I will slowly drift away on twitter.

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[-] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

I would sooner chew on glass than pay for Twitter.

[-] the_robomafia@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I’ll just leave these here

[-] Fal@yiffit.net 7 points 1 year ago

Why would you leave this trash here?

[-] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

The correct answer is no.

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

Hell no, and that's why I love the idea and definitely encourage them to do so.

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this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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