X formerly Twitter rolls out US$1 annual fee for new users in NZ and Philippines | Hacker News Reader

X formerly Twitter rolls out US$1 annual fee for new users in NZ and Philippines

theguardian.com

10 pointsbeardyw10 comments

I believe Musk's attempt to deal with bots comes from genuine motives but every move so far has been bungled, with this the latest example. The only way to mitigate bots is true verified ID, but that is a nettle Musk will not grasp, hence flailing away with half baked ideas like this.

I wonder if this will be US only? Taking only $1 from people around the world, processing for it, accounting it, this sounds like a headache.

When you frame it like that it does, but when you frame it like potentially taking $1 per year from ~500e6 users, it doesn't sound too bad does it

But we know that you'll never get everyone to pay (the If Everyone Gave Me a Dollar fallacy is a thing), and it's still only $500m a year, when they lost $2b+ in advertising, right? And now you have to support multiple micropayments.

I didn't say it makes sense, I am not in a position to judge that given limited knowledge about twitter's finances. I'm just saying that the framing is important

Even if it costs $1 to collect that $1 it might be worth it if it creates a 'better' and more engaged user base. If you pay for something you value it more and might end up taking better care of it. The question is if having fewer, but more engaged, users is a net benefit in the long run.

The annual fee is a good idea I think, but $1 is way too low, and really sounds ridiculous for a whole year; processing fees will use up much of it. They should make it (USD)$1000/year instead, so that only people really serious about using Twitter/X can view posts on the service. This should also be done worldwide, without any pricing differential for different markets.

Do you work for TikTok or any other competitor?

But seriously, I think any financial transaction is out of the question since in most cases that means to share your identity with Twitter. Sure, might reduce lots, but also excludes many users. Many content creators put themselves out there and there is nothing against it, they would have that problem. But for the normal user the disadvantages are more pronounced.

Even if you write the most mundane and trite content, it becomes a useless liability to share anything you could be convicted for.

Just testing the payment mechanisms. Otherwise the thin end of the wedge for everyone.

TL:DR New users in New Zealand and the Philippines will first be required to verify their phone number, and then pay the US$1 annual fee.

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