Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. Patrick Pleul/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
April 9 – Elon Musk, the largest shareholder of Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N), on Saturday proposed a series of changes to the social media giant’s premium subscription service Twitter Blue, including a price cut, an advertising ban and a payment option in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
Musk, who just days ago announced a 9.2% stake in Twitter, was offered a seat on its board of directors, a move that has some Twitter employees panicking about the future ability to moderate content. Continue reading
Twitter Blue, launched in June 2021, is Twitter’s first subscription service and offers “exclusive access to premium features” on a monthly subscription basis, according to Twitter. It is available in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In a Twitter post, the head of electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) suggested that users who sign up for Twitter Blue pay significantly less than the current $2.99 per month and include an authentication tick and an option to do so received should pay in local currency.
“Price should probably be ~$2/month but is prepaid 12 months and account will be unticked for 60 days (watch out for credit card chargebacks) and suspended without refund if used for fraud/spam,” said Musk in a tweet.
“And no ads,” Musk suggested. “Corporate power to dictate policy is greatly enhanced when Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.”
Musk also suggested an option to pay with Dogecoin and asked Twitter users for their opinion.
Twitter declined to comment on Musk’s proposals.
The company already allows people to tip their favorite content creators using Bitcoin. Twitter announced last year that it would support authentication for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital assets like images or videos that exist on a blockchain.
Musk also launched a poll on his Twitter account — which has more than 81 million followers — asking if the company’s San Francisco headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter since “nobody’s showing up (to work there).” The poll received more than 300,000 votes in an hour, with 90% answering yes.
Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell