X launches a new audience control feature

X (formerly Twitter) had been testing a feature that will allow users to choose who can reply to their posts. Following months of testing, the social media platform has now officially launched this new audience control option that will enable them to restrict their post replies to verified accounts. This option is now available along with three other options: Everyone, Accounts you follow, and Only accounts you mention.  

These options were first added in 2021. 

The feature is helpful for those who receive several replies, which may sometimes be irksome. According to X owner Elon Musk, the feature “should help a lot with spam bots.” The feature seems to be available to all users on both iPhones as well as Android smartphones. 

Limiting replies to only a fraction of X users may be a problem for creators who monetise their content on the platform. X’s new creator ad revenue share program generates revenue for the creator based on ads that are shown within their post replies. 

It must be noted that the replies that are monetisable are the ones made by verified users but engagement on posts usually prompts even more responses, which can help to get content seen by more verified and non-verified users. 

The development comes a few days after X CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed that the platform is testing three tiers of premium service, which could be known as Basic, Standard and Plus. 

While Basic Premium users will see full ads, Standard users will see half ads and Plus users will not see any ads, as per reports.