Too frequent-too big? Ad-free Twitter comes with costlier subscription
The announcement comes as the social network suffers significant economic uncertainty since Musk's October purchase.
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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!
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 13, 2022
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
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!
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 13, 2022
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
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.
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