X to start out charging new customers $1 per yr in two international locations

If you wish to be part of X, the service previously generally known as Twitter, by way of its web site in New Zealand and the Philippines, be ready to fork over $1 a yr for the privilege.

The subscription, a part of a so-called “Not A Bot” program, is starting in these two international locations and is designed to “bolster our already vital efforts to cut back spam, manipulation of our platform and bot exercise,” X stated Tuesday in an unsigned publish on its assist heart. As well as, new net customers in New Zealand and the Philippines should confirm their account with a telephone quantity, the publish says. Fortune first reported that Musk was going to cost new customers $1 a yr shortly earlier than X’s announcement went stay.

X’s publish doesn’t clarify why the brand new $1 subscription is just for new customers becoming a member of by way of the net and never the cellular app, or why Not a Bot is just being rolled out in two international locations. A guess can be that X has seen extra bot exercise from these areas than others, and that it’s a lot simpler to create a bunch of pretend accounts by way of the web site. “New customers who choose out of subscribing will solely be capable to take ‘learn solely’ actions,” similar to viewing posts and watching movies, in accordance with the corporate.

This new program is along with X’s foremost subscription of $8 a month. Musk has been clear from the start of his Twitter takeover that he thinks charging will impede bot armies, although it’s estimated {that a} very, very small share of customers are paying. In the meantime, he has been bragging about how time spent on X has by no means been greater.

Replace October seventeenth, 8:34PM ET: Added publish from Elon Musk.