Musk Adds New X Sub Tiers

Elon Musk’s X began offering new subscription tiers for users on Friday in an attempt to shore up revenue at the social media company.

Subscribers have the option of paying $3 a month for the basic tier, which provides features such as the ability to edit posts and upload longer videos, according to the company formerly known as Twitter Inc.

Web users can opt to pay $8 a month for the premium tier or $16 a month for premium+, to get additional benefits including the blue checkmark, ad revenue sharing and fewer or no ads in their timelines. Users subscribing through Apple Inc.’s iOS and the Android platform will pay more.

Since Musk bought the company a year ago, X has shifted away from advertising and toward paid subscriptions. A new analysis from independent researcher Travis Brown estimated that 950,000 to 1.2 million people now pay for X’s $8 monthly premium service.

Despite Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino claiming that these subscription tiers are not intended to be a “profit driver,” the company’s actions say otherwise, with a recent test of a $1-per-year plan for users in New Zealand and the Philippines that could result in every new user having to pay a basic fee to use the historically free platform, according to Mediapost.

In addition to new reports showing X's ad rates plummeting since Musk’s takeover, the app also faces a steep drop in user engagement and app downloads, according to another recent report.

Premium+ and Basic are launching alongside the default standard Premium verified offering, which still costs $8 per month and claims to show subscribers half the amount of ads.