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Twitter Blue Subscription Shake-Up Proposed by Largest Shareholder
Elon Musk, Twitter Inc’s largest shareholder, proposed a slew of modifications to the social media giant’s Twitter Blue premium subscription service on Saturday, including lowering the price, eliminating advertising, and allowing users to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin.
Musk, who declared a 9.2 percent investment in Twitter just days earlier, was granted a position on the company’s board of directors, causing some Twitter employees to worry about the company’s ability to monitor content in the future.
Twitter Blue, which will launch in June 2021, is the company’s first subscription service, providing “exclusive access to premium features” on a monthly subscription basis. It is available in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In a Twitter post, the CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc urged that customers who sign up for Twitter Blue should pay substantially less than the current $2.99 per month, and should receive an authenticating checkmark as well as the option to pay in local currency.
“Price should probably be $2/month, but paid 12 weeks in advance & account does not receive checkmark for 60 days (watch for credit card chargebacks) & suspended with no refund if used for scam/spam,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
“There will also be no advertising,” Musk noted. “If Twitter relies on advertising income to exist, companies’ potential to influence legislation is dramatically boosted.”
Musk also recommended using dogecoin to pay and solicited feedback from Twitter users.
Twitter declined to comment on Musk’s recommendations.
The startup already allows users to tip their favourite content creators in bitcoin. Twitter said last year that it would accept authentication for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital assets such as photos or films that live on a blockchain.
Musk also launched a poll on his Twitter account, which has over 81 million followers, asking whether 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% responding positively.
