Elon Musk bought Twitter for a lot of money - and now he's found a way to make that money back, by charging for features. Guess free speech is only for the rich.
Elon Musk has now officially bought Twitter. You know that, no need to elaborate further. Now, the super-villain-in-training, is trying to get money back on his $44 billion investment by charging for features. If you didn't know - yes, he did dip into his personal finances for this purchase.
Elon Musk Will Charge for Twitter Features | Verification No Longer Free
We have known this for a few months now, ever since Reuters reported, that they've been told Elon is planning to lock features behind a paywall. Specifically, that Elon will hide the embed and quote-tweet features behind a paywall, when interacting with verified accounts. Seems like good'ol Elon had plans for verified accounts for a while now.
In practical terms, what the report implied was, that unless you cough up some money, you will no longer be able to embed or quote tweets from anyone that's verified. Mind you, that most gaming websites are verified, as are companies, so this will spell doom for many Twitter users reporting on news as individuals.
Also, if your favorite game studio releases a new trailer, you will no longer be able to quote-tweet it. After previously claiming that his purchase is all in the name of free speech, this move is a bit confusing, and it might just be the beginning of the Age of Elon - A Super Villain Origin Story. I want that title trademarked, by the way.
Verification Now Hidden Behind Pay-Wall
But it seems as though Elon's plans didn't end there. The richest man on the planet wants to earn some more cash and was planning to add a subscription model to Twitter, that will cost $20 a month, so users can get their blue verification badge.
It seems like he changed his mind though, as just yesterday, he tweeted out, lowering the price for verification to $8 a month.
Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Funny how he is now celebrating himself as the next Marx, for making the blue checkmark available for "everyone". This will probably create a bunch of problems, I mean, every troll can now get verified...
At least it is free on TiKTok:
Verification is pretty important, if your account is of public interest, to show it is authentic. So it is pretty much a must-have for every company, game developer, politician etc. So the "free speech" Elon refers to, means "if you're rich enough to pay for your authenticity".
According to The Verge, Elon is going full villain mode once again, threatening to fire the people working on this new subscription feature, if it isn't ready until November 7.
Elon really going hardcore on these poor employees to earn some cash... uhm, I mean to get rid of these filthy bots.
At least no more censorship ... I guess: