Elon Musk’s upcoming reign on Twitter continues to be the talk of the internet. Since the Tesla owner announced the $44 billion purchase deal, the future of the social network has remained hazy. The news of the time was published on Musk’s own Twitter last Tuesday (3). The billionaire indicated that business and government users may have to pay a “small” fee to maintain their Twitter profiles.
Musk makes it very clear in his post that the proposal is to keep Twitter free for ordinary users forever. So, if that’s your case, you don’t have to worry about paying another boleto for now.
“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but perhaps a small cost for commercial/government users,” the post reads, in direct translation.
Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022
According to analysis by The Verge, charging for company tweets or government profiles may not be such a simple measure to implement. That’s because some factors need to be observed and the main one is the price to be charged.
The question remains whether small companies would pay the same as large enterprises. If not, how would that be measured: by number of followers or brand value in the market? It’s still a big unknown.
Future of Twitter
It is not yet known how this rate will work, nor the exact values. But the proposal could be a way for Musk to increase the profit margin of the social network.
According to Reuters news agency sources, the businessman has communicated to the banks funding the $44 billion proposal that he plans to increase revenue from his business, and that would include pulling strings to cash in on relevant or viral tweets on Twitter.
Musk’s moves for the future of the social network are not yet official. In posts made by the Tesla owner — but which were later deleted — Musk even considered payment options in dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that has soared in price over the past year after the businessman demonstrated his support for the meme currency format, with frequent posts. on twitter.
In addition, in this sequence of deleted posts according to Reuters, Musk would also have mentioned Twitter Blue (a paid version of the platform, not yet available in Brazil) and suggested a reduction in the subscription price, as well as a ban on advertising.
Controversy in Musk’s posts
The curious thing is that the post about Twitter fees for companies and governments came right after another publication by Musk, which aired earlier on the same day, last Tuesday (3).
“Who funds these organizations that want to control their access to information? Let’s investigate…”, the tweet reads.
Along with the comment is a link to a report published by CNN that points out that large companies, such as Coca-Cola and Disney, are being encouraged to boycott Twitter if policies that limit hate speech and electoral disinformation on the platform are suspended. .
In response, Twitter told CNN, “We have no planned changes to our commitment to brand safety” but that the company “can’t speculate on what changes Elon Musk might make.”
This is likely a result of Musk’s project to expand what he calls “freedom of speech” on the platform and reduce control of speech on the platform, which has generated controversy.
The businessman even published an explanation of his point of view on what “freedom of expression” is on Tuesday (26), the day after the Twitter purchase agreement.
“By ‘freedom of speech’ I simply mean what is in accordance with the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.”
The post also adds: “If people want less freedom of expression, they will ask the government to pass laws in this regard. Therefore, going beyond the law is against the will of the people.”
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
The following day, on Wednesday (27), Musk took a stand again on his convictions about the social network:
“For Twitter to be trusted by the public, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and far left alike.”
For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022
