Elon Musk, the owner of X/Twitter and a prominent tech billionaire, has suggested implementing a “small fee” for users to post on the social media platform.

Responding to a tweet on April 15 regarding potential changes to the X/Twitter website, Musk addressed the speculation about charging new users for actions such as replying, liking, or bookmarking posts. He explained, “Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots. Current AI (and troll farms) can pass ‘are you a bot’ with ease.”

Addressing concerns raised by users regarding the fee, Musk proposed an alternative option for users to either pay the fee or engage in computationally expensive activities such as mining dogecoin. He emphasised that paying the fee would be significantly easier than the alternative and clarified that the fee would only apply to new X/Twitter users, who would gain free write access after three months.

As of now, there are no further details regarding when the fee policy will be implemented, the pricing of the fee, or any additional fees that new users may encounter.

In other news, Musk recently terminated journalist Don Lemon’s contract with X following Lemon’s alleged inquiry about Musk’s purported use of ketamine. Musk, who has denied using any illegal drugs, justified the termination by criticising Lemon’s approach as resembling traditional CNN reporting, which he deemed ineffective. Musk asserted that Lemon’s lack of authenticity, possibly due to influence from former CNN president Jeff Zucker, was detrimental to the platform.

Additionally, Musk faced a setback when a judge deemed a $56 billion Tesla pay package unfair to shareholders, resulting in its loss.