Musk's Twitter is planning to launch a "Paywalled Video" feature in just 1 to 2 weeks

[highplainsdem]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/01/elon-musk-twitter-paywalled-video/

Elon Musk‘s Twitter is pushing ahead with plans to charge for content on the social media site, now with videos.

Twitter is working on a feature to allow people to post videos to the site and then charge users to view them, with the social media company taking a cut of the proceeds, according to an internal email obtained by The Washington Post. The company appears to be aiming to rush out the new feature, referred to as Paywalled Video, with a target of just one to two weeks before launch.

But the team has “identified the risk as high,” according to the email, which was sent by an employee on Twitter’s “Product Trust” team. The email cites “risks related to copyrighted content, creator/user trust issues, and legal compliance,” and says the feature will undergo a brief internal review around those issues before moving forward.

-snip-

It could also push Twitter, which is unusual among major social networks for allowing nudity and consensual pornography, into competition with sites that specialize in adult content.

The article goes on to say that according to current plans, tweets with paywalled video will show a few clear images plus a blurred image with a lock icon and a price, from $1 to $5. Twitter would take a cut of that payment before paying the creator via Stripe.

So most likely this will become Twitter Porn.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Betting it will be focused on the rubes.

You want bullshit? You gotta pay for it. LOL.

[global1]

2. $44 Billion Is A Lot Of Money To Make Up.....

That's probably what Elon is thinking he'll be able to do by charging for things.

Unfortunately - it might also sour out people on using Twitter and cause its doom.

[RockRaven]

9. He bought the company with monopoly money. He can absolutely destroy it and it won't

materially affect his life in any way -- he still has a separate twelve-figure pile of resources and there's nothing in the world that he wouldn't be able to buy (so long as it is for sale at all) even if everything Twitter related *poofed* out of existence tomorrow.

I'm skeptical his priority is making money/making Twitter profitable. It seems like his priority is attention and praise from the terminally-online, and controlling the terms of public discourse. This seems to be primarily a vanity project, while it lasts.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. He's scrambling to put together a plan to lay off some of the debt.

And he needs to start the cash flowing if that is going to happen.

Right now he owes a bunch on margin loans and the bank is holding an additional $12 billion.

There’s a reason he tried to weasel out of the deal. He overpaid and Tesla dropped past his comfort level (although it has come back a little).

I still haven’t figured out this bank angle but it appears they know they are going to lose money? This doesn’t make sense:

https://www.ft.com/content/d1879d0c-c52e-4f48-82f0-09458add4aee

Banks prepare to hold $12.7bn Twitter debt on books until early 2023

Lenders concede they will struggle to drum up demand until Elon Musk unveils detailed strategy

[SoCalDavidS]

3. Nobody Pays For Porn nt

[highplainsdem]

4. They pay at OnlyFans, which I've seen tweets comparing this to.

[JI7]

26. But how much are people making/paying ?

I'm guessing the number of users is nothing close to twitter.

[highplainsdem]

5. Comment on this plan from Eleven Films, whose videos have been posted here:

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

6. "Psst! Wanna see a vagina?"

Click on payment method

[iemanja]

16. Seriously, imagine the revenge porn that will be posted

and Musk would do nothing.

[leftstreet]

7. Has Musk never heard of YouTube? TikTok?

LOL this brilliant idea will fail

[Emrys]

8. As the owner, Musk seems to be having trouble grasping what Twitter is and how it gains audience

The ability to share materials outside Twitter - writings, pictures, music or videos - is a major factor in increasing its reach and clout. This change would restrict the viewership to those with Twitter accounts who'd signed up to the paywall.

This is why rivals with more restrictive models - like Counter Social, for instance, where you can't read its output without having an account - won't be able to compete effectively unless they open up to allcomers.

Many performers and creatives on Twitter are more concerned with exposure than getting paid for what are often teasers for other works of theirs that do make them money on whatever platform they choose, similar to how advertisers love it when their ads go viral and take on a life of their own.

[Meowmee]

10. I guess that means people will stop posting them here?

And maybe people will leave twitter and use the new blue sky instead?

[Emrys]

12. Not all videos will be paywalled,

so from this change alone, I suspect little will alter here as most of the videos posted here via Twitter are not the sort of things that would be monetized.

As for Bluesky, anyone holding out hopes for it should make them realistic, as this article explains: No, Elon and Jack are not "competitors." They're collaborating.

[Meowmee]

13. Ok

Thanks. Just for porn then 😖😹

[haele]

20. Blue Sky is not going to be worth it.

The proposed architecture Dorsey is using is very similar to Usenet, which failed due to copyright infringement and lack of moderation - too many legal issues for most ISPs to keep it running. I question a lot of what I hear, as some of Musk's Twitter proposals are mirrored in some of the functions Blue Sky is supposed to be providing. Sort of like Musk's Twitter will act as a Beta test for Dorsey's Blue Sky.
They both consider themselves "Social Disrupters". They're also both Liberatarian Tech Bro Assholes ( but that's redundant).

Haele

[Meowmee]

21. Ok thanks

Someone mentioned blue sky here as an alternative and I don’t really have very much information about it. So thank you for telling me that. I am on Twitter but I haven’t used it for a long, long time and I maybe tweeted like 10 times the entire time, almost never read there, not at all since the wacko took over.

[Tomconroy]

14. 'We'll be just like Tok Tok but we'll charge money!'

That will work.
PS I've just been banned from Twitter for tweeting at Musk that I was enjoying watching him commit financial suicide. This violated the rule against encouraging people to commit suicide.
Oh well.

[iemanja]

17. LOL

What a thin-skinned ninny.

[iemanja]

15. Musk, busily planning how to destroy Twitter

He won't be able to pay back the bank loan if he keeps this up.

[zuul]

18. One bad decision after another . . .

He really is trying to kill Twitter.

[haele]

19. Reading down further, it looks like he's re-creating a monitized UseNet.

And adding it on to a Second Life type platform.

Hey, if good o'le Phoney Stark adds his Neuronet engineers to the job, he might just figure a way to plug himself in directly so he can bask as a bot in the warmth and praise of his fan-bois and sycophants, with the ability to banish or destroy the online life of any troublesome folks or other bots like some fabled Emperor.

I guess his Mission to Mars Plantation scheme isn't getting off the drawing board as quickly as he would like.

Dorsey should re-think his partnership with Musk; Musk has a bad habit of stabbing his partners in the back if they don't serve his ambitions the way he wants them to.
Rich Tech Bros always make rather stupid villains. For all their supposed smarts, they never really understand ecosystems well enough to understand the various factors and roles outside of their own immediate roles in those systems.

Haele

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. Another streaming service

What makes him think his will be so special?

[PortTack]

23. Push twitter into nudity and consensual porn? This guy is a dirt bag, will do or say anything

For attention and money.

What scum!

[AntivaxHunters]

24. And this is where Twitter truly begins it's downfall

The very minute you start charging people for something which has been free for so many years, this includes being verified, that's the final nail in the coffin.

Elon Musk may be a "smart" businessman to some but he lacks common sense, a commonality among the over wealthy & privileged.
Every single website that has ever done this has failed. Every single one. It's used for desperation. And now that advertisers are fleeing Twitter, including huge names like Coke, GM, Pepsi, and others, this will be the end of Twitter. Just ask Yahoo, Flickr, AOL, and so many others which are but a shell of their former selves.

Failure is imminent.

[purr-rat beauty]

25. Doesn't Dump Jr. do this?

with other platforms with free streaming for limited content this will be a real threat..

ok, it will provide a veiled environment for hate speech for those who want to pay for that freedom

[tavernier]

27. He's the barker at the circus peep show.

He forgets that all the neighborhood kids knew how to sneak in for free.

I will save my money for the popcorn, donuts, beverages and music at the DU greatest show tent.