Mashable: Elon Musk is considering a significant shift for X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, towards a subscription-based model. During a recent conversation centered on AI with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk mentioned the idea of charging all X users on a monthly basis, reports Variety.

According to Musk, this move is essential to combat the issue of bots on the platform. However, specific details about the timing and pricing of this subscription plan were not disclosed. X currently boasts 550 million monthly active users who generate between 100 million and 200 million posts daily.

Musk's inclination to place X behind a paywall has been previously discussed internally. This development comes as X has experienced a drastic 50% decline in advertising revenue since Musk acquired the company. The financial challenges faced by X are further exceeded by a significant debt burden. Musk made his concerns public on July 15 when he stated that the company was still grappling with negative cash flow due to these financial setbacks.

Presently, X offers a subscription program, formerly known as Twitter Blue but rebranded as X Blue under Musk's leadership, starting at $8 per month. Subscribers to X Blue enjoy several advantages, including verified check-mark status, the ability to edit posts within a one-hour window, a 50% reduction in ads, prioritized rankings for their posts in conversations and search, the ability to post up to 25,000 characters (compared to the standard 280-character limit), and the capacity to upload videos of up to 3 hours in length or up to 8 gigabytes in size. X Blue subscribers also have the opportunity to earn a share of advertising revenue, initially based on ads displayed in responses to their posts.

In October 2022, Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, became its CEO, and oversaw significant layoffs, reducing the workforce by about 80%. Later, he appointed Linda Yaccarino, formerly of NBCUniversal, as CEO. Musk remains in control of X (formerly Twitter), guiding its product and technology teams, and he renamed the company to 'X'.