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X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

bbc.co.uk

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Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#71
post #23
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the $1, it’s the identity linked to the charge. So now they can be blocked as well as traced back to the funding account. I once was in a charity sponsored therapy group and they had a $10 fee. I was annoyed as this was a pretty wealthy organization and the fee seemed discriminatory, or at least a hassle. I learned that it was just there to validate each participant. So I think this is just a filter to help…

If X or Twitter or whatever accept payments via Apple Pay or Google Pay then there is absolutely no way to track anything. It's those services simply dont provide any information back to ex-Twitter. Also there is number of services like privacy.com that allow to hide real card details. And even if person is using real card then payment process have absolutely no way of knowing anything except those few last numbers o…

> payment process have absolutely no way of knowing anything except those few last numbers of the card

This is just plain wrong.

1. Payment processors know everything because they process the payment

2. Application developers don't know anything besides the last 4 is closer to reality because they're probably not PCI compliant to access the remaining information. BUT some processors such as Adyen will try to provide a unique identifier for each card (that has no further information except linking multiple purchases across vendors and channels).

Now with this unique identifier X still wouldn't know WHO you are but they could provide that information to advertisers that might know or at least use it to track you online and in person

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#72
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the plan will never work for mobile users who sign up via the App Store or Google Play Store. "According to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, Musk’s push to sign-up subscribers was very much intertwined with his quest to build an “everything app,” and Musk grew angry when he learned Apple doesn’t share credit card details of those who sign up with their iPhones." https://www.engadget.com/x-is-starting-to-charge…

Just finished reading the bio so I can clarify this a bit. Despite what it sounds like out of context the take away was that he did know the App Store rules but he was under the (wrong) impression a company of that scale could speak with Apple and get the data anyway.

Thanks for the clarification.

However, I don't think it's even legal for Apple to hand over credit card info to third parties. Not that Apple would anyway, because it would completely destroy customer trust in Apple.

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#73
post #16
post #4

I worry that this may paradoxically increase bots, because now the price of legitimacy is $1 per year. Bot farms and shills will do the math.

It’s not the $1, it’s the identity linked to the charge. So now they can be blocked as well as traced back to the funding account. I once was in a charity sponsored therapy group and they had a $10 fee. I was annoyed as this was a pretty wealthy organization and the fee seemed discriminatory, or at least a hassle. I learned that it was just there to validate each participant. So I think this is just a filter to help…

There’s a 0% chance that musk has any private interest in reducing bots. Bots was his excuse to try to get out of an obviously shitty deal that he made. That’s it.

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#74
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the $1, it’s the identity linked to the charge. So now they can be blocked as well as traced back to the funding account. I once was in a charity sponsored therapy group and they had a $10 fee. I was annoyed as this was a pretty wealthy organization and the fee seemed discriminatory, or at least a hassle. I learned that it was just there to validate each participant. So I think this is just a filter to help…

The backlash is funny. USPS does the same thing for mail forwarding to verify identity and legitimacy. It’s not like this is some crazy money-making idea from Elon.

People need their mail, because they can't things like social security checks without it. It's not clear that anyone really needs Twitter, except for influencers and bot-shops.

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#76

This has nothing to do with bots. It's all about getting everyone to provide their credit card details for future revenue streams eg. micro-transactions. And also to give them a competitive advantage in the ad space e.g. allowing companies to target you based on your real life identity.

I'm embarrassed for Musk. He overpays for Twitter, mismanages it to a lower value, and is now panhandling for dollar bills to make himself whole.

I'm amazed that the 'rebranding' was started, seemingly with no plan, then just aborted, with x.com still just being a redirect to twitter.com, and everything still in 'Twitter blue'.

Nobody's going to call it X, and 'ex dot com' isn't a great name. He should probably just accept that mistakes were made and revert it.

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just finished reading the bio so I can clarify this a bit. Despite what it sounds like out of context the take away was that he did know the App Store rules but he was under the (wrong) impression a company of that scale could speak with Apple and get the data anyway.

TBH this highlights even more how out of touch they are -- too used to living in a bubble where the rich can get what they want and bypass rules that apply to regular folk.

[dead]

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of bots are paying the 5$ verified account It's a non-issue And of course a lot of them have the same X logo or Elon's picture, because His Xcellence probably fired the thinking heads dealing with spam

You need to follow up the payment barrier with identifying bots and the info (cc+contact) they used to verify their identity.

Oh, just identify the bots.

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy pre-paid Visa and Mastercard debit cards from many retailers. Availability of cards isn't going to be an issue.

It's trivial to prevent this category of card from being accepted. Many similar services already block pre-paid cards.

[deleted]

Re: X begins charging new users $1 a year in New Zealand, Philippines

#80
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH this highlights even more how out of touch they are -- too used to living in a bubble where the rich can get what they want and bypass rules that apply to regular folk.

It’s not like there’s no precedent for this. Look at all the rules WeChat was able to ignore due to their size and influence. I assume Elon expected a similar treatment for Twitter.

WeChat is way more important to everyday life in China than the iPhone is. I'm writing to you from Shenzen right now.

You don't need an iPhone to survive in China. You absolutely need WeChat to survive. For example, you literally can't order food when dining inside a large number of restaurants without WeChat. The menu is in WeChat.

So whatever WeChat (Tencent) wants, Apple has to consider it. Otherwise, Chinese phone makers can and will provide more convenience.

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