Microblogging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is to launch two new subscription models, as billionaire owner Elon Musk seeks to tackle fake accounts and diversify revenue sources.
But the company did not disclose the subscription rates and timetable for the launch of the models.
“Two new tiers of X premium subscriptions launching soon. One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads, and the other is more expensive, but has no ads,” Mr Musk wrote in a post on the platform on Friday.
X’s website and app are currently accessible to all users free of charge, with the option for some members to subscribe to the X Premium service at a cost of $8 a month.
The premium service provides users with benefits including prioritised post visibility and a verified blue check mark on their profiles.
Mr Musk said previously that introducing a fee for using the platform would deter people from creating fraudulent or automated accounts for disseminating misinformation, propaganda and scams.
The majority of social networks offer free access to users. In exchange, the platforms collect substantial amounts of user data, which they use for advertising purposes.
Mr Musk bought Twitter for about $44 billion in October 2022. He immediately announced several major changes to the platform and laid off thousands of staff.
It is not the first time he has floated the idea of putting the social network behind a paywall.
The Platformer technology website reported in November 2022 that he considered introducing paid subscriptions for using Twitter.
In September, Mr Musk said users may soon be required to pay a “small” fee for the platform. X is “moving to having a small, monthly payment for use of the X system", Mr Musk said during a live broadcast of a discussion with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Musk has been bringing in changes at X to boost revenue after the platform's advertising income dropped last year.
In April, the platform said it would take a 10 per cent cut on content subscriptions after the first year. Users are able to offer their followers subscriptions to content, including long-form text and hours-long video.
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Jared Kushner and Elon Musk watch the Fifa World Cup final match between Argentina and France. Getty Images -
Mr Musk attends model and businesswoman Heidi Klum's 2022 Halloween party at Moxy Lower East Side, in New York City Getty -
Mr Musk on stage next to Optimus the humanoid robot in Palo Alto, California, in September 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk speaks at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing 'Cyber Rodeo' grand opening party, in Austin, Texas, in 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk shakes hands with Brazil's then president Jair Bolsonaro, at the event Conecta Amazonia in Porto Feliz, Sao Paulo state, in 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk and his mother, Maye Musk, arrive for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk attends the start of the production at Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2022 AFP -
Mikey Day as a lawyer, Cecily Strong as a judge, and host Mr Musk as Wario during the 'Wario' sketch on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', in 2021 Getty -
Mr Musk and son X Æ A-12 onstage at 'Time' Person of the Year in New York, in 2021 AFP -
Mr Musk dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla's China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, in 2021 Reuters -
Mr Musk with Armin Laschet, at the time CDU party federal chairman and prime minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, at the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2021 Getty -
Mr Musk at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, in 2020 EPA -
Mr Musk leaves a New York court in 2019, after a hearing in a lawsuit brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission Getty -
A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2019 Reuters -
Mr Musk and then partner Grimes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 2018 AFP -
From left, Mr Musk, Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, then US president Donald Trump and Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky at the White House, in 2017 AFP -
Mr Musk presents his plan to colonise Mars at the International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016 EPA -
Mr Musk with then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe after a test drive of the Tesla Model S P85D in Palo Alto, California, in 2015 Reuters -
Mr Musk with then wife Talulah Riley at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in London Getty -
Mr Musk after Tesla's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market in New York, in 2010 Reuters -
Then US president Barack Obama with Mr Musk on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2010 Reuters -
Mr Musk in the Tesla Roadster electric car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, in 2009 Reuters -
Mr Musk with music producer Quincy Jones at the Tesla Roadster launch party in 2008 AFP -
Mr Musk answers questions about the new Tesla Model S all-electric car, at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California, in 2009 AFP -
Elon Musk in Los Angeles in 2008. Getty -
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in 2004 Getty
