Almost 8,000 members of the company's sales force, business operations and technology departments can be immediately impacted due to the layoff

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Elon Musk’s X is planning to charge users in New Zealand and the Philippines joining via the platform’s web application $1 per year as part of its programme to reduce bot activity. The subscription is part of X’s “Not A Bot” programme, which attempts to “bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity”, the company noted in a help centre post on its website on Tuesday. As part of the pilot programme, new users signing up via the website in the two countries will also be required to verify their account with a phone number, the unsigned post said. It remained unclear why the subscription programme is being rolled out only in these two countries, and exclusively for new users joining via the X website, and not the mobile app. However, Not a Bot’s terms and conditions suggested that people may also subscribe to the programme from X’s iOS and Android apps, while the main help centre post only specified web. X did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment. “As of October 17th, 2023 we’ve started testing “Not A Bot”, a new subscription method for new users in two countries,” the company posted. “This will evaluate a potentially powerful measure to help us combat bots and spammers on X, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. Within this test, existing users are not affected,” it said. New users from the two countries who opt to subscribe with $1 will for the web version of the platform will be able to post content, like posts, reply, repost and quote other accounts’ posts, as well as bookmark posts, X noted. However, those who opt out of this subscription in the web application “will only be able to take ‘read only’ actions, such as: Read posts, Watch videos, and Follow accounts,” the company stated. “This new programme aims to defend against bots and spammers who attempt to manipulate the platform and disrupt the experience of other X users. We look forward to sharing more about the results soon,” it added. The latest programme is also in addition of X’s premium $8 subscription option. Commenting on a post on X about the new programme, Mr Musk called it “the only way to fight bots without blocking real users.” “Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform,” the multibillionaire said. X’s latest decision is in line with the Tesla titan’s aim to curb bot activity on the platform since before his takeover of then-Twitter in November last year. He has also held from the beginning that charging users would curb bot activity on the social media platform even though it has been found that only a small fraction of users subscribe to its $8 premium service. But the multibillionaire has continued to hold that a subscription fee would make it harder for bots to create accounts since each bot would need a new credit card to register on the platform. “It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Mr Musk said last month. “Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny – call it a tenth of a penny – but even if it has to pay a few dollars or something, the effective cost of bots is very high,” he added. Read More EU to investigate X’s handling of disinformation over Hamas attack on Israel EU asks Elon Musk to ‘walk the talk’ on X/Twitter disinformation over Hamas attack How Elon Musk’s Twitter became a haven for fake news and misinformation Viral hate and misinformation amid Israel-Hamas crisis renew fears of real-world violence Instagram Threads adds edit button and voice notes as it attempts to take over from Twitter EU opens investigation into X’s handling of disinformation over Hamas attack on Israel

Republic of Ireland defender Niamh Fahey suspects no dress rehearsal, no matter how big the audience, could truly prepare her side for their World Cup debut. That milestone moment is inching ever closer for the Girls in Green, whose first tilt at a global title begins Thursday against tournament co-hosts Australia on a double-billed opening day of the tournament kicking off with New Zealand taking on Norway in Auckland. The Republic’s meeting with the Matildas proved so popular that as early as January it was moved to the competition’s largest venue, the 80,000-plus capacity Stadium Australia in Sydney. “I don’t think you can realistically replicate that scenario, even if you wanted to try,” said Fahey, speaking at an open training session at Brisbane’s Meakin Park. “You ready yourself like any other game and you try and not think about the outside. As cliche as that sounds, it’s 11 v 11 on the pitch and you focus on the game and yeah there’s noise, but to be honest, even in games where there’s been 40,000, 50,000, once the game is on you don’t really hear that crowd, that noise. “It’s only the anticipation those first couple of minutes and once those five minutes, or once you’ve settled into the game I think it just becomes a formality in terms of how the game is going to pan out. “I think if you can get through those first couple of minutes it makes all the difference, you don’t really hear it. Well, I don’t hear it anyway, so I can’t speak for everybody.” The Republic only managed to get through about 20 minutes of their meeting with Colombia in an aborted behind-closed-doors friendly on Friday that sounded anything but amiable, with key midfielder Denise O’Sullivan rushed to hospital with an suspected shin injury. An update on the team’s official Twitter account on Saturday morning provided an encouraging about the North Carolina Courage captain, reading: “Positive news for Denise O’Sullivan X-Ray and CT Scan show no fracture Denise will work with WNT Medical Staff on a return to play procedure.” The PA news agency understands the decision was made to stop the match following some rough challenges in Friday’s contest. A statement from the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) read: “The behind-closed-doors game between the Ireland women’s national team and Colombia on Friday evening was ended after 20 minutes of play. “The game, which was held in Meakin Park, Brisbane, became overly physical and it was decided, following consultation with the match officials, to end the game.” The Colombian Football Federation released a statement of its own which said that, while the training of its teams was “framed within the rules of the game, healthy competition and fair play”, it respected the Republic’s decision. Republic manager Vera Pauw used the remainder of the time initially allocated for the friendly to instead run a full training session in preparation for the fast-approaching tournament opener, now her side’s next scheduled match. Liverpool skipper Fahey has played in some massive venues before, winning the FA Cup with Chelsea at Wembley in 2015 before relinquishing the trophy to Arsenal in the finale the following year. The 35-year-old Galway native, who watched the 2019 tournament from the stands in France, says her side are more than ready for their close-up. She added: “We know that it’s going to be a challenge, but this is what we worked our whole careers for, to be on the biggest stage and for it to be sold out, switch to another stadium. “Everyone was delighted with that. No one was like, ‘Oh god’, there was never any sense of trepidation, anything like that. Obviously it’s a massive occasion, there will be nerves, it’s natural. “But that’s what you want. As an elite sports person you want the biggest stage. Everyone on this team wants to be on that pitch, wants to be on that platform, so you have to be ready to embrace it. That’s it.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live On this day in 2014: World Cup winner Mike Tindall retires History to be made as Ons Jabeur and Marketa Vondrousova clash in women’s final Englishman Daniel Brown two strokes off the lead after strong day in Kentucky

When Snapchat announced last month that it had reached 5 million paying subscribers for its Snapchat+ service, it seemed like a stunning achievement. The milestone marked the halfway point to the 10 million subscriber number that CEO Evan Spiegel had just months earlier identified as a "medium-term" goal.

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