Elon Musk has announced that X, formerly known as Twitter, will soon introduce an ad-free version as part of its X Premium subscription. This option will allow users to pay to enjoy the platform without advertisements.

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX revealed that X will offer a “lower cost” version of the Premium subscription, which will include all the subscription’s features but will continue to display ads. Additionally, there will be a more expensive tier that offers an entirely ad-free experience. As of now, specific pricing for these two tiers and the exact launch date have not been confirmed.

X Premium, currently priced at just over €9 (RM35 locally) per month, provides users with a verification badge, the ability to edit posts after sending them, and the option to post longer text and video content.

Following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year, the platform experienced a significant drop in revenue as advertisers became concerned about the new owner’s approach to content moderation and free speech.

Recently, the European Union initiated an investigation into X’s handling of disinformation and harmful content related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

To counter the decline in advertising revenue, X is exploring subscription-based income streams. A trial program has been launched in New Zealand and the Philippines, where new users are asked to pay an annual fee of US$1 (RM4.77) to post and reply to others. Musk had previously hinted at the possibility of all users eventually having to pay to use the platform.

Musk believes that requiring users to pay for posting is an effective way to combat bot and spam accounts, as entering credit card details would deter many bad actors from operating bot networks on the site.