Just days after Elon Musk suggested that he might charge all users to use his social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, someone hacked into Donald Trump Jr.’s account, leaving many in doubt about paying to use an outlet that can’t safeguard their cybersecurity.
Musk put forth the proposal to charge X users weeks after he announced that ad revenue was down 60 percent on the platform, going after organizations like the Anti-Defamation League for pressuring advertisers to be more vigilant about the rise in anti-Semitic and hate speech among the outlet’s users.
According to Axios, the exact reason Musk stated for instituting a charge is “to combat vast armies of bots.” Bots wouldn’t be able to create accounts if they can’t register banking information.
Even so, people aren’t sold on the idea, and the recent hack of an account belonging to a high-profile figure like Donald Trump Jr. is only increasing misgivings.
A spokesperson for the embattled former president’s son reported that the account was hacked on Wednesday. The hacker or hackers in question shared numerous erratic and false posts, including one announcing his father, Donald Trump’s death.
Now, people are going after Musk for even proposing charging users if he can’t even soundly secure their accounts.
Elon Musk didn’t specify how much he would charge users if he actually instituted a platform-wide fee, but he did suggest monthly payments potentially. He already charges $8 a month for X Premium users.
According to CNN Business, the Federal Trade Commission is still investigating X over its purported inability to sufficiently protect user privacy. The FTC is also looking into whether it may have violated binding commitments it made in 2011 to secure the platform. This follows the whistleblower disclosure from Twitter’s former security chief, who alleged widespread and unaddressed security vulnerabilities.
