Elon Musk’s Twitter Might Make Fans Pay To DM Celebrities
It’s been a week since Elon Musk assumed position as the head honcho of Twitter, and significant transformations have since been underway. One of the most interesting potential changes was the blue verification tick placed behind a paywall. However, after it sparked much discourse, it turned out that there are other features of the app that could soon be turned into paid privileges.
Documents quoted by the New York Times suggest that users could eventually have to cough up money to send Direct Messages to celebrities.
It seems that the app is segregating Very Important Tweeters—including celebrities, athletes, and other important figures—and turning communications with them into a premium feature.
One example cited in the internal documents imagines DMs between rapper Post Malone and a fan, who asks what his favorite records are. This conversation is displayed in a separate area supposedly designed for paid messages.
It is unclear how much the feature will cost, but the report mentions that it will be “a few dollars.” Twitter might receive a cut, and celebrities could choose whether they would like to receive such messages.
The news may not be surprising to some who have been keeping up with what has been happening. Since Musk took over, the company has faced a significant loss in revenue after some of its advertisers decided to walk away from the platform due to fear of the platform moderating content and pressure from activist organizations.
Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
Of course, as with all other possible new features currently being thrown around, users will have to take things with a pinch of salt as there is a chance this option never actually see the light of day.
[via Complex and Digital Trends, Photo 243317981 © Rafael Henrique | Dreamstime.com]
