Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said that users of his social media platform will be able to avoid media subscriptions and pay per article starting “next month.”
Musk says that Twitter’s forthcoming “one-click” service “should be a major win-win for both media orgs & the public” by allowing media companies to charge a higher per article price to readers who wouldn’t necessarily pay a full subscription rate.
Musk didn’t say what percentage Twitter would pocket for itself or what conditions media publishers would need to abide by.
Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click.
This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per article price for when they want to read an occasional article.…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2023
Twitter is in a race to grow revenue even as it alienates long-time users and antagonizes media organizations — both of whom are actively testing waters elsewhere.
The pay-per-article announcement by Twitter comes as Musk tries to woo creators to the struggling platform. Musk is enticing podcast producers worldwide to start charging for their shows through Twitter Subscriptions (formerly known as Super Follows), promising that “Twitter will keep none of the money” for the first 12 months. Musk is also directly courting specific podcast producers.
