X is making yet another feature that streams live behind its paywall, at least to be a Premium-only element soon.
Yes, that is right: if you wish to live stream on X, you will need to pay-up for it first; a development that will reportedly lower the amount of footage rolled in on the app from the ground thus reducing a principle value of its live-streaming options

Why is X making this a paid-only option?

Apparently, X is having an issue related to copyright and piracy infringement in an app where many users are streaming illegal content over the live option. X believes that by moving live streaming as a Premium-only feature will address this and enhance quality generally within the content on offer on the app.

But as mentioned, this will also mean that those who happen to be present when a newsworthy event is still taking place will not be able to immediately activate an X live stream, and then broadcast it to the world. Which paradoxically seems to contradict Elon's own vision of "citizen journalism" for the app-actual perspective from those in the real world on news events.

But again, X would hope that change will get more people signing up to X Premium, still apparently struggling to achieve mass take-up, and so far failing in its initial goal of becoming revenue replacement Musk had touted for the app.

When Elon bought X in 2022, the rough outline of what his initial recovery plan for the business was to base the platform dramatically on paid subscriptions, as this removed much of the dependence of the platform on ad dollars. If X can become essentially self-funded by users directly paying for the app, then it no longer needs to cave to the whims of ad partners anymore; that would move it more in line with what Elon says is an ideological reason for the "free speech" vision of the app.

Elon's plan was for X eventually to be generating half of its revenue from subscriptions, which, based on Twitter's income last year, would be about $2.5 billion in subscription intake this year.
It is nowhere near that as yet.

According to estimates, X Premium take-up is less than 1% of the active user base for X, or fewer than 2 million paying subscribers in aggregate. 2 million subscribers, at an average of $8 per month (X now has tiered pricing starting at $3 per month for basic features) works out to approximately $48 million per quarter, or $192 million per year.

And this is no small amount, to be sure, but it's nowhere close to being the major revenue driver that Musk had hoped for when he started selling his blue ticks.
It now looks like Musk and Co. are counting on its Grok AI chatbot – a Premium-only feature – to be another draw for paid users, though it's hard to see X Premium being the gold mine for Musk that he at least initially hoped.

Reports indicate Musk, in his original business plan for X, had estimated that the company's annual revenue would go as high as $26.4 billion by 2028, with subscriptions accounting for $10 billion of that.

X apparently took in close to $2.5 billion in total for 2023, and does not seem to be improving on that in much of an impactful way this year.

Its financial troubles are reportedly now also causing tension between Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino, who has apparently failed to put its revenues back in a positive growth path, while Musk is also pushing the CEO to slash more costs to increase the bottom line.

In plain English, user subscriptions aren't going to be the winner that Elon had so hoped, no matter how many functions it shifts to paid only.

So what's the point of doing it then? Lock behind features for the paid versions, thereby reducing the content within the application?

Forget about the copyright infringement concerns already, but it does seem like a rather counterintuitive move from an ever increasingly desperate company.

But hey, Elon has his vision. Too blurred for anyone to have the faintest idea of what he's talking about.