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Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.
Sheikh Qassem: The government’s latest decision [on the disarmament of the Resistance] is non-charter-based, and if the government continues down this path, it is not faithful to Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Too frequent-too big? Ad-free Twitter comes with costlier subscription

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 22 Jan 2023 11:19
2 Min Read

The announcement comes as the social network suffers significant economic uncertainty since Musk's October purchase.

  • x
  • An illustration photo shows a phone screen displaying a photo of Elon Musk with the Twitter logo shown in the background, in Washington. (AFP)
    An illustration photo shows a phone screen displaying Elon Musk with the Twitter logo shown in the background. (AFP)

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that the company's subscription service would show less advertising to customers, including an ad-free tier.

The announcement comes as the social network has suffered significant economic uncertainty since Musk's October purchase.

"Ads are too frequent on Twitter and too big. Taking steps to address both in coming weeks," Musk posted to his Twitter account Saturday.

Ads are too frequent on Twitter and too big. Taking steps to address both in coming weeks.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2023

In addition, "there will be a more expensive subscription that allows zero commercials," Musk stated.

That would represent a significant shift in Twitter's business model, which had previously depended on targeted advertising to generate money before launching a premium subscription service in mid-December.

However, advertising has recently become a source of concern for Twitter, following Musk's firing of over half of the company's 7,500-person workforce late last year. The move raised concerns that the firm was understaffed to handle content monitoring and frightened governments and advertisers.

#Twitter has been heading straight into the eye of a storm!
Twitter on Friday paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service as fake accounts rushed to impersonate politicians, companies, and even celebrities.#TwitterTakeover pic.twitter.com/IcvR51gyRA

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 13, 2022

Musk stated that his aim was to minimize costs while increasing revenue and that a new subscription service called Twitter Blue, which offers users a sought-after blue verification tick for a price, would help him achieve that goal.

According to a page on the company's website, the service costs $11 per month in the United States and is available on Apple's iOS and Google's Android mobile operating systems.

Web subscriptions are also available for $8 per month or $84 per year at a discount.

#Twitter has been heading straight into the eye of a storm!
Twitter on Friday paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service as fake accounts rushed to impersonate politicians, companies, and even celebrities.#TwitterTakeover pic.twitter.com/IcvR51gyRA

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 13, 2022

Twitter Blue is now available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan.

With mass layoffs, the restoration of banned accounts, and the banning of journalists critical of the South African-born entrepreneur, Musk's Twitter has been riven by instability.

Musk's takeover also resulted in an increase in racist or offensive comments, prompting regulatory scrutiny and driving away big advertisers, Twitter's main source of revenue.

Read next: Media companies set 2023 content deals with Twitter

  • ad-free Twitter
  • Elon Musk
  • Twitter
  • Twitter Files

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