Tech billionaire Elon Musk has completely transformed Twitter since his takeover at the end of October. After a few days, he had to give up his first attempt to introduce a subscription model. A new attempt will start next week.
Elon Musk starts a new attempt for a subscription model on Twitter. The revised version will start on a trial basis in the coming week, announced the billionaire and new owner of the short message service. The premium account contains different colored ticks that identify users as verified. Gold is for corporations, gray for governments and blue for individuals. Before an account receives this seal, users are checked individually.
“Individuals may have a secondary small logo to show their affiliation with an organization if they are verified as such by that organization,” Musk added in another tweet. He initially gave no information on the costs. At the beginning of the month he had to cancel an initial attempt to introduce a subscription model after a few days because fake accounts were springing up like mushrooms. For “Twitter Blue” eight dollars per month were due.
Musk, who also manages the electric car manufacturer Tesla, among other things, has completely transformed Twitter since the takeover at the end of October. With his erratic decisions, he offends employees and users alike. Among other things, the mass layoffs are causing criticism. The question arises as to whether the social network can comply with the stricter rules in the fight against illegal content on its platform, said EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders.
According to an insider, Reynders asked Twitter for specific measures to ensure this. If companies do not comply with the “Digital Services Act”, which will apply from February 2024, they face penalties of up to six percent of their global annual turnover. At the same time, Musk announced an amnesty for certain banned users. These are said to be users who have not broken the law or been guilty of extensive spam offenses.
Musk had previously lifted the ban on former US President Donald Trump. His user account was blocked after his followers stormed the US Capitol in early 2021. Against this background, several companies have stopped their advertising activities and some of their posts on Twitter. The federal government is also watching the development “with growing concern”. A number of ministries already have accounts with the competing short message service Mastodon.
