Twitter/X Now Lets You Restrict Replies To X Premium Subscribers



Twitter/X will now let users stop unverified accounts from replying to their posts, in case that was something you wanted to do. If it is, you’re probably in the minority, Mashable reported.

The official X account announced the change on Wednesday by posting an image of the platform’s updated reply limitation menu. Now, instead of just being able to restrict replies to “everyone,” “accounts you follow,” and “only accounts you mention,” there is a new fourth option: “verified accounts.”

Select that option, and only people who are paying Twitter/X’s $8 per month X Premium subscription fee will be able to respond to your tweet.

According to Mashable, the change has already rolled out across both mobile and PC, so if you don’t already have it you probably will soon. If you do have it, it’s just one more feature you can ignore.

This new category of response restrictions is Twitter/X’s latest effort to make X Premium seem appealing without actually adding anything of value.

Engadget reported: Another day, another X update that limits what you can do on the site without paying Elon Musk for a verification checkmark. A post from the official X account announced that you can now restrict replies to just verified users – any tagged accounts can also comment. The new restriction is available whether you’re verified or not, joining the existing options to allow replies from everyone, only accounts you follow or people mentioned.

According to Engadget, Musk launched what is now X Premium in November 2022 – only a few weeks after becoming the company’s official owner – providing anyone with a blue checkmark by their name $8 per month or $84 per year. Verification was initially available on Twitter to confirm the identity of notable figures, but the paid system led to impersonations and the approval of bots.

TechCrunch reported that X, formerly Twitter, has introduced a new control that limits replies to only verified accounts. The control is not restricted to paid accounts, though. Users who don’t pay for X Premium can also choose to not let non-verified users reply to their posts.

Hours after the rollout of the feature, Elon Musk said that this new control “should help a lot with spam bots.”

According to TechCrunch, X already gives prominence to verified accounts by offering prioritized ranking in conversation and search as one of the perks of the subscription. With the new control to limit replies to only verified accounts, X is now allowing paid users to get noticed more.

TechCrunch also reported that while Musk’s intention is to reduce spam in replies, there is no guarantee that verified accounts won’t post harmful information. Earlier this week, an NBC News report noted that many verified accounts on X were posting false news about U.S. President Joe Biden allocating $8 billion as military aid to Israel.

Personally, I’m no longer interested in staying on X/Twitter. To me, it looks as though Elon Musk is making haphazard changes that, in some cases, don’t work as well as perhaps he would have liked them to. Spam accounts will still be on the platform. Removing headlines from news sites is silly. There are better social media sites to use.