News

Elon Musk might charge brands and the government to use Twitter

But the platform will remain free for casual users.

by
Alex Gatewood
May 5, 2022

Image: KnowTechie

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With Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, many are wondering what kind of changes the world’s richest man will bring to the social platform. One of those changes could result in a fee for governments or major brands to use the platform.

Musk, who has been one of the more outspoken personalities on Twitter for several years now, posted a tweet earlier this week revealing his plans to potentially add a fee for government and commercial Twitter users.

“Twitter will always be free for casual users,” Musk writes. “But maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users.”

Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022

This is just the latest revelation of Musk’s potential plans to increase revenue at Twitter once he takes over.

A report from Reuters last week suggests that Musk may soon start charging publications to embed Twitter posts on their website. So, we’re using as many embedded tweets as we can until that time comes.

Additionally, a now-deleted tweet from the eccentric billionaire claimed that he wanted to reduce Twitter’s reliance on advertising to make money.

And, of course, we could all get on board with an ad-free social network. However, the platform will have to create some major new revenue streams to replace advertising.

Twitter generates several billion dollars per year selling ads. Musk will have to charge governments and brands a pretty penny to make up for the billions that Twitter will be missing out on.

But these changes are still likely a long way away. Musk’s Twitter acquisition deal is still not closed, though it’s expected to go through sometime this year. But even once the acquisition is complete, changes like this will still take a lot of time to implement.

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