Musk is reportedly talking about putting all of Twitter behind a paywall, after limited browsing

[highplainsdem]

Link to tweet

Elon Musk has seriously discussed putting all of Twitter behind a paywall, and the company could lose $6b in ad revenue with a change Musk added to the new Twitter Blue subscription at the last minute:

https://www.platformer.news/p/musk-discusses-putting-all-of-twitter

But all of that could be a prelude to the biggest change of all: charging most or all users a subscription fee to use Twitter.

Both Musk and Sacks have discussed the idea in recent meetings, according to a person familiar with the matter. One such plan might allow everyone to use Twitter for a limited amount of time each month but require a subscription to continue browsing, the person said.

It could not be learned how serious Musk and Sacks are about the paywall; Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. It also does not appear imminent, as the Blue team is wholly occupied with the launch of expanded verification.

Still, given Twitter’s huge debt burden, the backward economics of Blue, and the recent pause in spending by major advertisers, it’s clear that Musk and his brain trust will have to do something to significantly increase revenue. And whatever they choose, it seems increasingly clear that Twitter will never be the same.

The tweet about the article also alludes to the last-minute change to Twitter Blue subscriptions that will cause Twitter to lose ad revenue. Musk is offering subscribers a reduction in the ads they'll see, by about half. That will cut ad revenue enough that Musk could lose money on the subscriptions.

Please read the entire article, and share it. Great synopsis of what a disaster Musk is creating at Twitter just in business terms, not even counting the social disaster.

[PortTack]

1. There will be a mass exodus if he does that..way more than is already currently happening

[ret5hd]

2. Personally, I think it is absolute genius.

Couldn’t do a better job myself. Carry on sir, carry on.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

4. I agree. Absolutely genius move.

Stable genius.

I strong encourage Elon to follow his instincts.

[PortTack]

15. Yup finish it off!

[DemocraticPatriot]

31. HA! Genius move

to destroy his own money!!! lol


This would have been a great time to "short" Twitter stock... except now I guess there is no such thing any more...

[PatSeg]

70. Oh yes Elon

Don't listen to all those naysayers. You're a financial genius right? Do things your way!

[madville]

52. I think that's the plan all along

He and his financiers’ end goal is to destroy it, either to suppress communication in their own part of the world (Saudis) or for their own entertainment (Musk).

[Wednesdays]

56. That's quite expensive "entertainment"

$44 billion, just for the lulz?

[madville]

66. Gotta think a little longer term

Like in the next year or so they take it back public, they put a large chunk out in the initial offering and recoup a significant portion of the investment. Speculators drive the price up and they end up making money. Crazier things have happened, Tesla shouldn’t be valued anywhere near what it is either at 600 billion, almost double what Ford, GM and Toyota are worth combined.

[Takket]

3. He really has no clue what he is doing.

Just like he has no clue what he was doing at Tesla. Anyone here think he actually engineered a battery? Or regenerative breaks? Or a suspension?

No he just throws out manic shit because he has the money to fund it but it is engineers and scientists and technicians and accountants that actually take his crazy ideas and turn it into a product.

He wouldn’t be able to tie his own shoes if left to his own devices.

[Quixote1818]

26. I also think he has put himself in a no-win situation

The only way Twitter may do well financially is to go back to basically what they already were but that will totally piss off the crazy's on the right who are already pissed that he even met with anyone on the left about standards. Usually greed wins out and wealthy people cave and then do what the advertisers want. He can't admit he was wrong as his ego is so big it's like a giant, cancerous tumor. So Musk is now just making one bad decision after another because of his massive ego it seems. He is a weak minded person and I agree, not that sharp.

[Locrian]

68. exactly - not bright

started with a rich family
fired for ruining companies
fame whore
didnt found tesla - bought in
lied to get loans 451 million
tesla only exists due to carbon credits - not profitable
lied to inflate stock prices
dodge coin inflated to boost his wealth
money to get fame fame to get money
etc
etc


https://www.tiktok.com/@moreperfectunion/video/7127462304819711278?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7127462304819711278

[gratuitous]

5. Dear Elon

That first payment due on your $12 billion loan is coming due soon. The asset you purchased is hemorrhaging money. Is it possible you're not the genius businessman you've sold yourself as?

[LiberalFighter]

6. Today I started not including the hyperlink to a Tweet by Josh Shapiro.

I just had his quotes. Will continue doing it that way now. And better yet, from other sources.

[Attilatheblond]

16. I locked down my account

Only people I follow can see my tweets now, as a soft precaution.
I know hacks and exposure is possible. That's why I don't use my name and do use a throw away email address. Stalk me once, shame on you, stalk me again, shame on me.

[dweller]

7. Who else believes we'll awake one morning

and Twitter will be down … and it doesn’t get back up ?

🤔

✌🏻

[relayerbob]

18. Reasonable chance of that happening

[ForgedCrank]

8. Well, if

everything else didn't do it, this will kill it for sure.

[RockRaven]

9. Weirdo narcissist cannot comprehend that most people don't need their Twitter account like he

needs his Twitter account.

[kysrsoze]

10. Please proceed.

That’ll go over well.

[zuul]

11. Another brilliant move by the 'genius' Musk.

Who would give that crook access to a credit card? Especially after rumors of cards being hacked?

[Attilatheblond]

13. Thinking only Truth Social escapees

No way in hell should ANYBODY give that man access to their actual information or credit card number.

[rsdsharp]

12. Maybe he wants new users.

Eldon (may I call you Eldon? Well, I’m gonna), I wasn’t on Twitter when it was free. I’m sure as hell not gonna pay for it.

[FirstLight]

14. never liked twitter anyway...

seriously, a paywall?

[Afrocat]

17. It takes a lot to build these sort of platforms up and a special kind of know how to run them.

This guy evidently does not understand running one thing is not like running another. Further more, running a business that needs to reinvent itself seamlessly, in real time. Twitter is going to undoubtedly crash and burn as he throws switches at random and continues shedding users. Nobody is going to pay anything monthly for Twitter when there are "free" alternatives. If I was Zuckerberg I'd stop fooling around with that silly VR nonsense and get cracking on a Twitter alternative.

[ZonkerHarris]

40. He did get fired by the Board at PayPal after all.

[The_Casual_Observer]

19. Is he floating this shit? A paywall will end it.

[relayerbob]

20. I only joined in Feb to follow OSINT news

Sure the hell won't hang around to give him money to get behind a paywall

[Quixote1818]

21. He has put himself between a rock and a hard place. No matter what he does he will piss one side off

In order to start making good money again he would need to give in to the advertisers and groups calling for standards. However, if he does this then he totally pisses off the crazy's on the right and deep down I think he wants Twitter to be a cesspool because he is just like them. But making Twitter pay only could cause it to just go bankrupt. Maybe that's what he wants at this point? I don't see how he fixes this situation without giving in and allowing advertisers to call the shots and he seems too crazy / Trump like to do that.

[sarcasmo]

22. The fall of Twitter will be glorious.

[tman]

32. Indeed. Sit back and enjoy.

[OhZone]

59. Glory to the fall of Twitter!

[Ocelot II]

23. Well, TFG managed to bankrupt casinos, so he's just following in his hero's footsteps.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

24. He still has a way to go before reaching half-baked. nt

[tishaLA]

25. OK! Mastodon, here I come nt

[mathematic]

27. Only somebody as terminally online as musk would think somebody would pay to read twitter nt

[leftstreet]

33. +1 No one in the real world would pay for it

I love Twitter, but it's not something I'd pay for

I thought Musk was supposed to be a genius

[AngryOldDem]

48. Just one more selfish, greedy, rich bastard.

[MiniMe]

28. Never participated on twitter when it was free, will not if you have to pay for it

[BootinUp]

29. Do it asshole!

[BigmanPigman]

30. Stephanie Ruhle MSNBC just did a good piece on Musk.

She warned that all the major news stations, including CNN, are not the "liberal media", they are all owned by Republicans. Now Musk is getting in on it too.

[liberal_mama]

34. That will totally kill Twitter! I hope he does this. Musk is a real idiot.

I was going to stay for a while, but it's already going downhill fast.

[exboyfil]

35. Leave Musk an empty husk

[Captain Zero]

36. Pretty soon all Twitter users will fit into a Tesla

seems to me....

[Blue Owl]

37. He really likes to fondle his own junk

[JCMach1]

38. Keep this up and Elon will ironically save Facebook

[ZonkerHarris]

39. Please paywall that motherfucker. $44 billion down the drain. bwahahahahahahahahaha

[Emrys]

41. Companies generally carry out market research before making major customer-facing changes.

Not something Musk sees the need for, apparently, as he already knows it all. I doubt he'll learn.

[stopdiggin]

42. but remember. genius and business tycoon!

And we have a culture that admires this crap. Remember the big buzz around the Zucherberg movie? Genius! (rather than a punk kid with megalomania and social issues)

(if Elon was on a ballot somewhere - people would be voting for him)

[PA_jen]

43. I am not paying for twitter. I have enough subscriptions.

[world wide wally]

44. It's only right that Musk gets to drive the final nail

[dalton99a]

45. Do it ASAP.

[niyad]

46. Who knew that the muskrat would actually take my advice seriously??

[AngryOldDem]

47. I think limited browsing is already happening.

I’m not on Twitter, but I look at a few accounts. Before, I could get maybe four or five posts deep in a feed before I got the invite to “join the conversation.” Now the block is almost instantaneous.

Hey, Elon, STILL not joining your shitshow, but please continue to put Twitter out of its misery.

[Ford_Prefect]

49. The disturbing element to this wretched rolling disaster is that the wackadoodles will exit and take

the crazy somewhere else cheaper, too. Somewhere which is probably reasonably unsullied by the Cra-Cra thus far.

Of course FOX News could underwrite part of it to maintain their audience share, no? They seem to have endless amounts of cash coming in.

[Coventina]

50. This would make DU better. I'm tired of so many posts being only Twitter links.

Do it, Elon!!!

[Orrex]

51. Change in cost and value to me: $0.00

But I understand people enjoy twitter, so this is just another of the great many reasons that Musk sucks.

[Johonny]

53. We are watching in real time two megalomaniacs destroy Twitter and Facebook

Facebook, which has been bleeding users for years, has a huge opportunity here. But it's Instagram and Facebook are stuck 5 to 10 years in the past. It went for easy money instead of following the social norms and is basically hopeless for anything other than as a photo warehouse at this point. Meanwhile Zuck pours money in Meta which is terrible and will always be 10 years away from making a profit.

Musk over paid for a fun service that doesn't generate enough money, and he is going to try and Toys R Us it by making the company face the burden of his financial miscalculation.

Meanwhile, newer hipper social media will eat these companies alive. They won't die (Twitter might), but their failed leadership are killing them. Their names are already toxic to many people.

The big winner might have been WeChat if Chinese supreme leader wasn't so focused on destroying his own economy, but that's another story.

[Voltaire2]

57. wechat?

Wechat has just about zero penetration outside of china. Inside China it is how everyone communicates and pays for everything. I missed the part where wechat was poised to take over the world as the next big social media platform. Did you mean Tik Tok? That's already happened.

[Johonny]

58. Musk wants Twitter to be WeChat 2.0

That's what you missed.

[usedtobedemgurl]

63. I use WeChat and....

I like it a lot. It lets me stay in touch with a lot of people.

[themaguffin]

54. Please please please do this Musk.

[Justice matters.]

55. Bankrupt it, elmo, so jack dorsey can buy it back at a bargain price.

[Tommymac]

60. Fuck that noise, Elon. It will be a cold day in QAnon hell and you will NEVER see my money.

I'm only hanging on there to watch the continuing train wreck.

[NewJeffCT]

61. I'm old enough to remember back in the 90s when AOL competitor Prodigy

started charging users on a per email basis & Prodigy quickly tanked after they made the change.

I suspect that Twitter would go the same way as Prodigy if they did that.

[Different Drummer]

62. How is Musky Muskrat not richer than Bezos?

Seriously, who in the blue hell does he think is going to pay to use Twitter? If this paywall fever dream becomes a reality, no one is going to be using Twitter.

[Tree Lady]

64. Bezos lost a lot in his divorce

Or he still would be ahead. A lot of Musks money was given to him and stock prices.

[samsingh]

65. i'm not sure i trust musk to run a car company or a space company in the long run.

he's making stupid moves

[Maru Kitteh]

67. Great. I think he should do that.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

69. And watch how quickly it all goes down the toilet

[bigtime]

71. Yes please kill the damn thing Lonny

It’s created enough misery in the world

[Nululu]

72. The new Compuserve

That programming house of cards is ready for that massive retooling