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Elon Musk, Twitter Inc’s largest shareholder, proposed a slew of changes to the social media giant’s Twitter Blue deluxe subscription service on Saturday, including lowering the price, banning advertising, and allowing users to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin. Musk, who disclosed a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter just days ago, was offered a seat on the company’s board of directors, causing some Twitter employees to worry about the company’s ability to moderate content in the future. Twitter Blue, which will launch in June 2021, is the company’s first subscription service, offering “entirely separate access to premium features” on a monthly subscription basis. It is accessible in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In a Twitter post, the CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc suggested that users who sign up for Twitter Blue could perhaps pay significantly less than the current $2.99 per month, receive an authentication checkmark, and have the option to pay in local currency.
“Price should probably be $2/month, but paid 12 months in advance & acct doesn’t get checkmark for 60 days (watch for credit card chargebacks) & delayed with no refund if used for scam/spam,” Musk wrote in a tweet.
“And no advertisements,” Musk suggested. “If Twitter relies on advertising revenue to survive, corporations’ ability to dictate policy is greatly enhanced.”
Musk also proposed a dogecoin payment option and solicited feedback from Twitter users.
Twitter did not respond to Musk’s suggestions.
People can already use bitcoin to tip their favourite content creators. Last year, Twitter announced plans to support authentication for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital currencies such as pictures and videos that exist on a blockchain.
Musk also launched a poll on his Twitter account, which has over 81 million followers, asking if the company’s San Francisco headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter because “no one shows up (to work there)”. In an hour, the poll received 300,000 votes, with 90% answering yes.