San Francisco, Apr 10 (US): Twitter’s largest contributor, Elon Musk, has proposed a set of changes to the social media giant’s premium subscription service Twitter Blue, including lowering its price, banning ads, and giving an option to pay in cryptocurrency. Dogecoin.
Musk, who revealed a 9.2% stake in Twitter just days ago, was offered a seat on its board, a move that has made some Twitter employees panic about the future of its ability to moderate content, Reuters reports.
Twitter Blue, launched in June 2021, is Twitter’s first subscription service and provides “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 car maker Tesla suggested that users who signed up for Twitter Blue should pay well under $2.99 a month currently, and should get a check mark for authentication as well as an option to pay in local currency.
Musk said in a tweet.
“No ads,” Musk suggested. “The power of companies to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter relies on ad money to survive.”
Musk also suggested an option to pay with dogecoin and asked Twitter users for their opinions.
Twitter declined to comment on Musk’s suggestions.
The company is already letting people guide their favorite content creators with bitcoin. Twitter said last year that it plans to support authentication for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital assets like photos or videos on the blockchain.
Musk also started a poll on his Twitter account – which has more than 81 million followers – asking whether the company’s San Francisco headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter where “nobody shows up[to work there]”. The poll got more than 300,000 votes in one hour, and 90% answered yes.