X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is rolling out a new audio and video calling feature to its users. The feature is available to most users, including those in the Philippines, although it remains unclear if it’s only for premium subscribers or open to everyone.
As reported by The Verge, the feature allows users to make voice or video calls on the platform. To enable it, users can go to the app’s settings, tap on ‘Privacy and Safety’, and then on ‘Direct Messages’. There they will see a toggle named ‘Enable audio and video calling’, which they have to turn on before they can use the feature.
To make a call on X, users have to open a DM with another user and tap on the phone icon at the top right corner. However, this feature is not yet available to everyone. In the Philippines, we could not find the call option in our DMs.
X has not yet officially announced the new feature, but its CEO Elon Musk tweeted earlier that it is an early version of audio and video calling on the platform.
Early version of video & audio calling on 𝕏 https://t.co/aFI3VujLMh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2023
The audio and video calling feature is part of Musk’s vision to turn X into an all-encompassing app, which will offer features beyond micro-blogging.
Since acquiring X, Musk has made several changes to the platform, including the introduction of a premium subscription service for $3.99 per month, which gives users a blue checkmark, an algorithmic boost, and ad revenue share.
Recently, X started testing a “Not A Bot” subscription fee for new users in the Philippines and New Zealand to combat spam and bots. The platform will start charging new users an annual fee of $1 (₱42.51 in the Philippines and NZD 1.43 in New Zealand) to access its full features. The move is part of a test to combat spammers, manipulation, and bot activity on the social media platform.
