A brand new setting on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, will prevent those who are not verified from replying to tweets.
The feature was announced by the platform’s official account with a post that said: “You can now limit replies to verified users.”
The owner of X, Elon Musk, retweeted the announcement, adding: “This should help a lot with spam bots.”
The screenshot shared with the announcement shows a dropdown menu of options, with the tweeter getting to decide who can reply to their posts.
This should help a lot with spam bots https://t.co/OYgsYD6QUz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2023
The instructions within the setting explain: “Pick who can reply to this post. Keep in mind that anyone mentioned can always reply.”
The options provided in the image are: everyone, verified accounts, accounts you follow, and only accounts you mention.
The new feature comes amid a series of changes to the platform, including Circles being scrapped and the Twitter Blue subscription service being introduced.
Recently, in late September, Musk revealed that users may soon have to pay to use the social media platform.
During a streamed conversation with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the entrepreneur said users might be charged “some minor amount” to deter bots on X.
He explained: “This is a super-tough problem. It’s the single most important reason we’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system, because it’s the only way I can think of to combat the vast armies of bots.
“A bot costs a fraction of a penny, say a 10th of a penny. But if someone has to pay a few dollars, some minor amount, the effective cost of bots is very high. Then you also have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot.”
He also claimed the X platform now has 550 million active users a month, up from the 531 million he tweeted about on July 28. The figure was closer to 229 million in mid-2022.
