On this picture illustration, Twitter account of Elon Musk is seen on a smartphone display screen and Twitter emblem within the background.
Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Photographs
Elon Musk has mentioned that companies and governments could quickly must pay a “slight value” to make use of Twitter simply weeks after asserting he plans to purchase the social media platform for $44 billion.
The tech billionaire, who can also be the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, added in a publish late Tuesday that the platform will proceed to be free for “informal customers.”
It is unclear how a lot Musk want to cost companies and governments, or whether or not sure teams resembling non-profits and journalists could be exempt from any imposed charges.
Twitter declined to remark when contacted by CNBC.
Through the years, Twitter has didn’t make anyplace close to as a lot cash as different social media platforms resembling Fb, Instagram and YouTube.
Musk, who has 90.7 million Twitter followers, beforehand mentioned he needs to “make Twitter higher than ever by enhancing the product with new options.”
Twitter is already experimenting with a paid-for subscription service known as Twitter Blue within the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand that provides extra options.
The premium providing, which prices $2.99 a month within the U.S., provides customers entry to options resembling undoing tweets and bookmarking tweets. Musk mentioned final month he needs to chop the value of Twitter Blue and make modifications to the service together with introducing a ban on adverts.
Elsewhere, Musk has additionally mentioned all of Twitter’s direct messages ought to be end-to-end encrypted so nobody can spy on or hack a consumer’s messages.
On the annual Met Gala on Monday, Musk mentioned Twitter additionally must eliminate the bots and trolls and scams that exist on the platform.
“We do not need folks getting tricked out of their cash and that type of factor,” he mentioned.
IPO plans?
Twitter is at the moment listed on the Nasdaq inventory trade in New York however Musk hopes to take it non-public.
Nevertheless, Musk has advised buyers that he could select to return Twitter to the general public inventory market in as little as three years, in line with a report from The Wall Road Journal Monday that cites folks aware of the matter.
Assuming the acquisition deal closes and Musk takes possession of Twitter, the corporate will likely be managed by the world’s richest individual and somebody who’s been a heavy critic of the platform whereas utilizing it in legally contentious methods, principally by delicate posts about Tesla.
Although Musk has indicated that his major curiosity in Twitter has to do with what he views as the corporate’s censorship of free speech, Musk critics are involved that the billionaire’s management over the platform will outcome within the silencing of their voices and others with whom he could disagree, on condition that he is usually blocked critics from his private account.
On the TED2022 convention in Vancouver final month, Musk shared how he want to see the platform change beneath his possession.
“I believe it is essential for there to be an inclusive enviornment totally free speech,” he mentioned on the time, acknowledging that some content material moderation could be wanted to cope with express calls to violence and make sure the service complied with the legal guidelines within the nation wherein it operates.
He additionally mentioned he usually would favor “time-outs” to everlasting bans, which might recommend a path for former President Donald Trump to rejoin the platform beneath Musk’s management. Twitter banned Trump from the platform following his tweets across the Jan. 6 rebellion on the U.S. Capitol, citing “the chance of additional incitement of violence.”
— Extra reporting by CNBC’s Lauren Feiner.
