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X (formerly Twitter) has now added a new feature, which is being deemed controversial by a section of the users. The Elon Musk-owned social media platform now lets users restrict the replies to a post to only those who are verified by X, meaning they have the $7.99 monthly subscription. At the moment, X has not made it the default option, and ‘everyone can reply’ is still set as default unless the user changes it. Some users are calling this feature a ‘paywall’ to reply to posts, something which is considered a basic feature for social media platforms.
The feature was announced earlier today by the official account of X, and it posted, “you can now limit replies to verified users” along with an image that showed the option using which unverified accounts can be locked out. Some users have mentioned that this feature has been introduced only to strong-arm users into buying the premium subscription, which was introduced almost a year ago by Musk as a paid verification that comes with the blue checkmark.
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One user commented, “It’s going to be very hard to be on this platform without a verified badge”.
X adds a reply lock for unverified accounts
There are some arguments that highlight the futility and potentially harmful consequences of this feature. One of the main reasons why this feature was added was to combat the ongoing bot issue on the platform, where many posts are infested with bot replies to either troll a post, spread misinformation, or just promote something.
However, as has been seen in recent times, bots are also getting verified by X Premium and have been seen flaunting the blue checkmark, which nullifies the objective of this feature. In addition, a large majority of the platform still continues to be unverified. By restricting a post to just verified accounts, its visibility and engagement will both take a hit, which will in turn impact the revenue that an account can generate for both the company and for itself.
Lately, Musk and company CEO Linda Yaccarino have been pushing heavily to increase the base of X Premium subscribers. In a meeting with debt holders recently, Yaccarino revealed that X has begun testing three different tiers of its proposed premium subscription, namely, Basic, Standard, and Plus. There will be subscription tiers with lower price tags to make it more lucrative for people who are not willing to pay $7.99 a month.
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