Twitter/X is giving users a chance to further limit the replies they see to their posts.
The Elon Musk–owned social media company announced a new feature Monday letting users restrict visible replies to just those of verified users. It’s the latest in a series of actions that let people pick and choose the replies they see. Other options include allowing replies from everyone, only followed accounts, or people mentioned.
Users, at present, do not need to be premium members to use the filter. The new feature has alredy rolled out to users.
You can now limit replies to verified users pic.twitter.com/E2KStVd69B
— X (@X) October 9, 2023
Musk, since his acquisition of the company was announced, has said he hopes to eradicate (or severely curtail) the exposure of bots on Twitter/X. And filtering comments is one way to go about that. It can also help to prevent or minimize harassment.
The newest filter, however, would not be especially useful in that goal. It would, however, force people to pay Twitter/X to reply to you.
Of course, that’s part of the goal. The move is meant to give a boost to the site’s premium subscription service, which charges users $8 per month or $84 per year, as those replies would be more visible. Musk did away with unpaid verification checkmarks shortly after taking over Twitter.
The further siloing of replies comes on the heels of Musk’s public musings that he might make paying for Twitter/X a non-optional feature. Doing so would offer the company a much-needed infusion of fresh revenue as Twitter/X continues to burn through its cash reserves even after shedding roughly 80% of its workforce.
Public response to that idea has been strongly negative, however, raising the possibility that a monthly fee, no matter how small, would result in a huge drop-off in the site’s user numbers.