My data (in particular my personal information) is worth a lot more than $1. Imo this has zero to do with ridding X of bots. A bot network operator will happily pay $1 to continue with their spam or scam. This is about collecting personal information and tying a users RL information to their content ultimately resulting in easy localisation when the nospeech gestapo comes looking for you.
Charging $1 a year to Tweet and Retweet may not seem like a lot, however optics matter. It sets the stage to charge more in the future, it makes the service no longer free, and most importantly, it makes Twitter no longer the public square where anyone is able to freely talk - a point in which Elon likes to state, but continues to erode.
While on the NOSTR we happily Zap developers more than $1 worth of sats quite often and some could agree that it's a similar task to paying a measily 4000 sats, it's not. It's not a requirement. It's not forced. The NOSTR is completely free and open. The openness is the difference. The NOSTR is the public square.
https://fortune.com/2023/10/17/twitter-x-charging-new-users-1-dollar-year-to-tweet/
Discussion
Bingo.