Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX, recently tweeted a new plan to fight against bots on the microblogging site. The proposed solution is to limit Twitter’s “For You” feature and polls only to verified subscribers starting from April 15. This means that only Twitter Blue subscribers, who pay for the verification blue checkmark, will have access to the “For You” feed, which suggests tweets that a user might like from accounts they do not follow based on their user activity.
Musk believes that this is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over Twitter. Twitter bots are automated accounts that are programmed to perform tasks that resemble human activity, such as liking tweets and following other users. These bots have been used for nefarious purposes such as spreading fake news, trolling, and propagating misinformation that includes spinning elections, inciting panic, and spreading malware.
Musk’s new policy will preclude unverified non-paying users from participating in the “For You” stream, meaning they will be far less likely to have their tweets liked or retweeted. Twitter operates on two algorithms – one is the ‘For You’ stream of recommended tweets, and the other is a stream of tweets from people you follow.
The move has drawn mixed reactions from users, with some expressing concerns about limiting access to Twitter’s features only to verified subscribers, while others applaud the move as a necessary step to combat bots and trolls. In the UAE, the Twitter Blue Annual Plan costs Dh309 per year, while the monthly plan costs Dh29 per month.
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