In attempt to monetise, Twitter to charge 10% fee on content subscriptions after one year

On Friday, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter Inc, announced that the social media platform will be collecting a 10% fee on content subscriptions beyond the first year. This move is part of the company's efforts to expand its sources of revenue by monetising content on the website.

Earlier this month, the billionaire announced that users of the social media platform will have the ability to provide their followers with subscriptions to content, which could include long-form text and videos lasting several hours. Additionally, he stated that Twitter would not receive any portion of the revenue generated from content subscriptions during the first year.

To increase revenue following the decline in advertising income leading up to his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which was completed in October of last year, Musk has implemented various changes to the platform. He further explained that the percentage of revenue taken by iOS and Android platforms on subscriptions would decrease from 30% to 15% in the second year.

Musk allows users to make money on Twitter

In April, Musk disclosed on Twitter that users would now have the ability to generate revenue by charging for access to their content, which can include extended written pieces and videos. This feature will be accessible to users who have subscribed to Twitter Blue, the company's flagship program since Musk's acquisition.

As per Musk's statement, for the first year, Twitter will not receive any share of the revenue earned by users through subscriptions. This indicates that users will keep at least 70% of their subscription earnings on mobile devices after factoring in app store charges. However, Musk did not elaborate on the technical aspects of how this strategy would be executed.

For the next 12 months, Twitter will keep none of the money.

You will receive whatever money we receive, so that’s 70% for subscriptions on iOS & Android (they charge 30%) and ~92% on web (could be better, depending on payment processor).

After first year, iOS & Android fees…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2023

In the same tweet, a user commented, asking Musk: "Are you going to be firing up sharing ad revenue (like ads in videos) for creators? That would be big!" To which he replied: "We're working on it. Twitter has a surprisingly complex codebase, so progress is slower than we'd like."

Reports suggest that Elon Musk is competing with Substack, a newsletter company that offers similar opportunities to monetise content, by enabling individuals to generate income from their Twitter accounts. At the same time, it seems that Substack is taking a cue from Twitter's features. Recently, it launched a Notes feature, which allows users to post content on a public feed. However, Twitter temporarily disabled likes, replies, and retweets for tweets with a Substack link earlier this week.