Elon Musk Announces X Premium, X Premium+ Access for Free, but There's a Catch

The decision comes on the heels of a report that revealed that fewer people were using the microblogging service, which was struggling to retain users.

Written by David Delima | Updated: 28 March 2024 19:04 IST

Elon Musk Announces X Premium, X Premium+ Access for Free, but There's a Catch

Photo Credit: Reuters

X (formerly Twitter) now offers access to premium, subscriber only features to eligible users

Highlights

X will offer Premium and Premium+ features to some users for free
Users will need to be followed by a certain number of paid subscribers
X Premium, Premium+ subscriptions also grant access to the Grok chatbot

Elon Musk has announced that X (formerly known as Twitter) will now offer features from X Premium and X Premium+ — the microblogging platform's paid subscription — at no additional cost, to specific users on the platform. However, not all X users will be eligible, according to details shared by the company's CEO on Thursday. Premium subscription plans on X reduce the number of ads on the timeline, while allowing users to access to premium features as well as Grok, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot created by xAI, the startup founded by Musk.

In a post on X, Musk said that all accounts on the platform that have "over 2,500 verified subscriber followers" will have access to features available with an X Premium subscription. In India, an X Premium subscription costs Rs. 650 a month (when subscribing from the website) while an annual subscription is priced at Rs. 6,800.

Going forward, all 𝕏 accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ for free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2024

Meanwhile, the platform's CEO also said that users who have over 5,000 verified subscriber followers would be granted access to features that are available with an X Premium+ subscription, that is currently priced at Rs. 1,300 a month (if you sign up from the web interface) or Rs. 13,600 for a year. All four subscription prices are considerably higher when signing up from the Android and iOS apps.

Musk didn't provide a reason for granting access to X Premium and X Premium+ features for select users, but the decision comes on the heels of a report that revealed that fewer people were using the microblogging service, which was struggling to retain users. The platform has refuted these claims.

Elon Musk Says Grok AI Will Be Expanded to All Premium Users on X

This means that you will need to have 2,500 followers who have paid for a Premium or Premium+ subscription to gain access to these features, which also include a blue verification check mark and the ability to monetise their posts. X shows fewer ads to Premium subscribers, while those who have a Premium+ subscription do not see any advertisements.

Both subscriptions offer features like the ability to edit or undo posts, increased character limit, post longer videos, background video playback, video downloads, and access to the Grok AI chatbot. Premium+ access also gives subscribers the ability to post articles. The subscriptions also allow users to customise the mobile app interface and hide likes and subscriptions.

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Further reading: Elon Musk, X, Twitter, X Premium, X Premium Plus

David Delima

Email David Delima

As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be contacted via email at DavidD@ndtv.com, on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More