Elon Musk announces new feature on Twitter to let publishers charge users per article read

Amid the plethora of changes, Twitter’s new CEO and billionaire Elon Musk said that the much-celebrated social media platform would enable media houses to charge users on a per-article basis. The Tesla CEO took to Twitter on Saturday (local time) to make the announcement. In the tweet, Musk stated that the feature would roll out in May and described the move as a “win-win” situation for both public and media organisations. The billionaire stated that the feature would enable users who do not sign-up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher price for an article they occasionally wish to read. 

“Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per-article basis with one click,” Musk tweeted on Saturday. “This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per-article price when they want to read an occasional article. Should be a major win-win for both media organisation & the public,” he further added. Prior to this, on Friday, Musk said that Twitter will take a 10 per cent cut on content subscriptions after the first year. Musk stated these subscriptions will include long-form text and hours-long video. 

Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click.

This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per article price for when they want to read an occasional article.…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

Musk’s crackdown on media houses

Musk has been eying the presence of media organisations on the social media platform. Earlier this month, news outlet NPR decided to quit Twitter after being falsely labelled as ‘state-affiliated media’. The Twitter CEO did the same with BBC, however, he decided to take back on his stance on NPR in a mail exchange with the media group. Ever since Musk formally took over the social media platform, he has made several erratic policy decisions. The Tesla CEO reasoned that he is making these changes to generate lucrative revenue channels for the company.

This led to the introduction of subscription-based services such as Twitter Blue. In Twitter Blue, a user has to pay $8 per month to get a blue verified tick along with other features. The implementation of this policy was the reason why the blue tick of several famous media personalities suddenly disappeared. The SpaceX CEO paid for the subscription of certain famous personalities like author Stephen King, NBA player LeBron James, etc.