Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Twitter Inc will always be free for casual users but may charge a slight fee for commercial and government users, as the billionaire entrepreneur tries to boost the social media platform’s reach from “niche” to most Americans.
“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” Musk said in a tweet.
Twitter declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022
Tesla chief Musk has been suggesting a raft of changes to Twitter since last month. After adding the company to his cart recently, Musk said he wanted to enhance the platform with new features, make the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeat spam bots, and authenticate all humans.
Read more: Tesla value drops by $126 bln amid Musk-Twitter deal
Last month, even before reaching a deal with Twitter, Musk had suggested a few changes to the Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price.
Elon Musk buys Twitter
Elon Musk struck a deal to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion. Twitter agreed to sell itself to Mr. Musk for $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the company’s share price before he revealed he was the firm’s single largest shareholder.
This would be the largest deal to take a company private — something Mr. Musk has said he will do with Twitter — in at least two decades, according to data compiled by Dealogic.
Read more: Will Trump return to Twitter as Elon Musk buys it?
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Mr. Musk said in a statement announcing the deal.
“Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” he further added.
Courtesy: Reuters with additional input by GVS