Social media platform X wants to charge money for live streams

Social media platform X wants users to pay to broadcast live images via the messaging platform. The tech company announced that the live streaming feature will soon only be available to people with at least a premium subscription, which costs 8 euros per month in the Netherlands.

Under owner Elon Musk, the former Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion in 2022, is looking for new sources of income to make the company less dependent on advertisers. Certain services that were previously free are, therefore, only reserved for paying subscribers. For example, X previously decided to offer blue verification ticks for paid accounts.

X's announcement to abolish free live streaming immediately led to criticism. People who want to broadcast live images are likelier to switch to YouTube or Twitch, with which X previously said it wanted to compete.