Elon Musk, owner of the microblogging website X (formerly known as Twitter), has announced two new paid subscription tiers for the platform.
Musk made this known on Friday in a tweet.
According to Musk, the first tier offers a lower-cost subscription with all features but does not eliminate ads. The second tier, priced higher, provides an ad-free experience.
Currently, premium web plans for X start at approximately $8 per month or $84 annually, which results in about 50% fewer ads displayed.
On the other hand, premium in-app subscriptions for iOS or Android are available at $11 per month or $114.99 per year.
Premium subscriptions come with several features that are not available with basic X plans.
Users with active Premium subscriptions receive a blue checkmark on their account, a feature often associated with verified accounts on social media platforms.
Additionally, Premium subscribers can edit their tweets up to one hour after posting, and they gain early access to new features before they are made available to the general user base.
The new development from Musk has since elicited diverse reactions from Twitter users with some expressing concerns that the platform was becoming pay-to-speak. Others suggested introducing a third tier that guarantees no shadow banning or hidden censorship, ensuring unlimited viewership.