Musk proposes Twitter Blue subscription shake-up
Twitter Inc.’s largest shareholder Elon Musk on Saturday suggested changes to the social media giant’s Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price, banning advertising and offering the option to pay in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
Musk, who a few days ago disclosed a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, was offered a seat on its board of directors, a move that left some Twitter employees terrified of the future of the ability to moderate content.
Twitter Blue, launched in June 2021, is Twitter’s first subscription service and offers “exclusive access to premium features” on a monthly subscription basis, Twitter says. It is available in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In a Twitter post, the head of electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. suggested that users signing up for Twitter Blue should pay significantly less than the current $2.99 per month, and an authentication checkmark as well as paying in the local currency. option should be obtained.
Musk said, “The price should probably be ~$2/month, but paid 12 months in advance and the account doesn’t get a checkmark for 60 days (watch out for credit card chargebacks) and gets suspended with no refund is.” Tweet.
“No more ads,” Musk suggested. “The policy-making power of corporations is greatly increased if Twitter relies on advertising money to survive.”
Musk also proposed an option to pay with Dogecoin and asked Twitter users for their thoughts.
Twitter declined to comment on Musk’s suggestions.
The company already lets people tip their favorite content creators using bitcoin. Twitter said last year that it planned to support authentication for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital assets such as images or videos held on a blockchain.
Musk also started a poll on his Twitter account – which has more than 81 million followers – asking whether the firm’s San Francisco headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter because “no one shows up (to work) there). “. The poll received over 300,000 votes in one hour, with 90% answering yes.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)