Elon Musk’s purchase of online giant Twitter has shaken the social media world these last few weeks, and it’s only going to get wilder from here.
Musk, the CEO and both Tesla and SpaceX, has been a longtime critic of Twitter’s ever-more-draconian approach to speech, in which the enormously popular website constantly shifts their line in the sand in what has appeared to be an attempt at shaping the narrative online.
Musk, who is looking to “unlock” Twitter’s true First Amendment power, now also thinks that there is some more money to be made on there as well.
Companies and government accounts on Twitter may have to pay a slight fee to stay on the social media platform in the future, but the service will always be free for “casual users,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose $44 billion bid for Twitter was accepted last week, tweeted on Tuesday evening.
The tweet was in reply to a cryptic message he sent earlier in the day that said “the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing.”
The tweet was gaining quite a bit of traction.
Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022
There were other potential avenues of revenue being explored as well:
Musk pitched a variety of ideas to banks last week to get help with his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, including monetizing certain viral tweets and cutting salaries for the board, Reuters reported.
Musk’s suggestion certainly won’t be all that popular among users, and resembles the sort of clickbait hoaxes of yesteryear.
