X (formerly Twitter) has increased its Premium subscription prices by nearly 40%, raising the monthly cost from $16 to $22 in the United States. The annual subscription has also jumped from $168 to $229, effective December 21.

Similar price increases have been implemented across European countries, with rates rising from €16 to €21 in France, Germany, and Spain. Existing subscribers will maintain their current rates until January 20, when the new pricing takes effect.

The price hike represents the largest increase since Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition in 2022. The platform justifies the increase by offering an ad-free experience and enhanced features, including:

• Priority support
• Trend monitoring tools
• Higher usage limits on Grok AI models
• Direct creator revenue sharing program

This price adjustment comes amid X's ongoing legal battle with 17 music publishers, who are seeking $250 million in copyright infringement damages for approximately 1,700 songs. The National Music Publishers' Association reports alerting X to nearly 300,000 infringing tweets since December 2021, with the platform allegedly failing to remove the content.

Prior to Musk's acquisition, Twitter was in licensing negotiations with major music labels Universal, Sony, and Warner. These discussions have since stalled, leaving X as "the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service," according to NMPA President David Israelite.

The basic subscription tier remains unaffected by these price changes.

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