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Elon Musk Suggests He Will Charge All X/Twitter Users a Fee to Be on the Platform (variety.com)

submitted 9 months ago by UrLogicFails@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

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I'm not sure if this is technically Technology news, but I can remove this post if it's in the wrong community

Archive link: http://archive.today/3XM6s

Musk brought up the idea of charging all users of X/Twitter during a wide-ranging conversation focused on AI that featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. “[We’re] moving to a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” Musk told Netanyahu, claiming that it is the only way to eliminate the problem of bots, as reported by Bloomberg’s Dave Lee.

Musk didn’t mention timing of his plan to charge X/Twitter users, nor did he say how much it would cost.

Musk, who also is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has said X/Twitter ad sales have plunged 50% since he bought the company. “We’re still negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load,” Musk posted on July 15.

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[+] 47_alpha_tango@lemmy.zip 111 points 9 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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[-] UrLogicFails@beehaw.org 62 points 9 months ago

It really feels like a lot of social media platforms are intentionally self-sabotaging themselves. I keep expecting them to die off every time something like this happens, but they appear to continue on regardless.

I think that social media sites actually dying off is actually impossible with enough inertia (even if their base decreases) and that's why they are emboldened to do such anti-consumer practices.

All this to say that I'm sure Steve Huffman has immediately started furiously texting everyone he knows about his new idea to charge for Reddit as well as a boosted version of Gold called "Alien Orange" or something.

[-] ChristianWS@lemmy.eco.br 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Even if a social network loses 99,99% of the user base due to charging to use it, those left are the ones that see no problem paying to use it, so they are more likely to eat up some insane pricing, which would help recoup losses from a smaller user base. Basically whales.

I think the only way to try to kill a social network is by going full scorched earth on it. Remove all your comments, or change them to be an annoying copy pasted comment about why you're getting off the platform. And even then I don't think it is helpful, I did that with Reddit but was forced to leave technical posts intact because I feared I might prevent someone from solving their issue.

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 18 points 9 months ago

They see no issue paying now.

When there's no content left they'll eventually notice it's a shit deal.

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[-] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 104 points 9 months ago

I hope he buys reddit next

[-] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 18 points 9 months ago

I think he should seriously consider buying Meta so that we can watch it crash and burn just like Xitter. Facebook is the cancer of the internet and it deserves to go too.

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[-] lonewalk@lemm.ee 74 points 9 months ago

So I mean, if this was in lieu of data collection and tracking, this is what more of the software world should actually do. Running platforms isn’t free, and making the user the product is a malicious and unsustainable solution.

That said, I certainly wouldn’t pay Twitter - I think I’d rather donate to a Mastodon instance, or pay for some other private alternative. Musk is awful for so many reasons, holds way too much power, and deserves no money of mine.

[-] Chozo@kbin.social 31 points 9 months ago

if this was in lieu of data collection and tracking

I guarantee this isn't in lieu of, it's in conjunction with.

[-] dom@lemmy.ca 16 points 9 months ago

Yup. You can see this kind of stuff happening with ads in things you buy.

There was a model of "ad supported" and "pay to own"

But some exec figured out you could do both and double dip.

There is no world in which things get more consumer friendly unless it's forced

[-] UrLogicFails@beehaw.org 29 points 9 months ago

That's actually a good point about how some services do require payment to provide safe service to their users. A very close to home example would be your local Lemmy instance. In order to run the servers and keep it ad (and tracking) free, each instance needs donations from their users. The same is true for Mastodon, as you mentioned.

The problem is, I would be shocked if Twitter actually provided a safer (or improved in any way) service. There are a other issues at play as well, but they all basically boil down to most users not wanting too give money to Twitter, and if they were ok with that, they would already have purchased Twitter Blue.

[-] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 16 points 9 months ago

I would be shocked if Twitter actually provided a safer (or improved in any way) service. There are a other issues at play as well

One of those issues being the idiot child in charge. As long as Musk is running the place, there's no such thing as safety for the users.

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[-] christophski@feddit.uk 10 points 9 months ago

I would love if there was a platform where they charged a very small amount monthly eg. I £1/€1/$1 in exchange for not using my data for anything. I love lemmy but I'm entirely at the mercy of the instance maintainers and there is no guarantee my data won't be used

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[-] Iwasondigg@lemmy.one 66 points 9 months ago

I fucking dare him to follow through. Please do it. Don't wuss out Elon!

[-] averyminya@beehaw.org 25 points 9 months ago

Should we all go make twitter accounts and say how great of an idea this is?

[-] FleetingTit@feddit.de 12 points 9 months ago

Yes! Absolutely!

[-] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 57 points 9 months ago

Anyone who hasn't abandoned the platform by now deserves whatever they get.

[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 51 points 9 months ago

Sounds like a great idea!

I mean, not for Xitter, but for the internet as a whole it would be amazing!

[-] xtremeownage@lemmyonline.com 47 points 9 months ago

So, I am starting to really believe his goal is to just drive a stake into the heart of twitter.

Either that, or he is trying to prove a point regarding something.

I don't think there is any possible way, he is so dumb as to make all of these horrible decisions regarding twitter.... This has got to be destroying twitter by design, on purpose.

I mean, seriously.... he has done literally everything that you SHOULDN'T do. Fire the majority of the company. Destroy over a decade worth of very good branding. Alienate all investors. Alienate the user base. Piss off the remaining users more. Drive away advertisers....

FFS, the dude has a company that sends rockets into space, and previously, the world's premier electric car company... What in the hell is his odd obsession with choking the life out of twitter, that has been costing him money left and right due to absolutely horrible publicity.

[-] miracleorange@beehaw.org 45 points 9 months ago

Please remember that SpaceX and Tesla have entire teams dedicated to handling Elon and reversing his decisions. Twitter did not have the infrastructure required to handle the sheer level of stupid that is Elon Musk.

[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 18 points 9 months ago

If he wanted Twitter to fail, he could have just unplugged all the servers and be done with it.

No need for him to change the policies so much everyone would leave, break his internet persona, and then declare Xitter bankrupt.

No, I believe he bought Twitter in order to manipulate the US presidential election by spreading propaganda from what he considers a "left-wing bubble". But because he has no idea how to run a social media, he is failing to keep it together and by now is throwing stuff against it to see what sticks.

[-] briongloid@aussie.zone 21 points 9 months ago

He owes a lot of money to banks, etc, for the company.

Explicitly closing Twitter would make him liable for destroying other people's equity. Accidentally destroying twitter while pretending to drastically fix it, while pretending it's failing against his will and his taking measures to save it, is the only way to kill it without being on the hook for it.

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[-] Peafield@programming.dev 16 points 9 months ago

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's razor

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[-] UrLogicFails@beehaw.org 41 points 9 months ago

I know it is a popular sentiment that people should migrate to Mastodon, but I personally think people will migrate wherever the people they follow migrate to.

With this in mind, I suspect Bluesky will be the platform to usurp Twitter; but with Twitter chasing off all their users in the near future, it may go to whichever platform is readily open at the time.

I'm very curious to see if Bluesky or Spill open up when Twitter closes the door on its users. If not, Mastodon may have a shot at being the next large platform...

[-] Grant_M@lemmy.ca 34 points 9 months ago

The biggest problem with Bluesky is it's owned by another musk.

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 10 points 9 months ago

He's not great, but that's an exaggeration

[-] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 13 points 9 months ago

Until it isn't. The platform is still single-tracked through an unaccountable billionaire.

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[-] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 9 months ago

Why Bluesky when there is ecosystem of dozens community-baked and deployed apps?

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[-] iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Is bluesky up yet? I'd assume everyone will just go to bluesky anyway.

[-] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 15 points 9 months ago

Yes, but it's invite-only. Either you join the wait-list and get lucky, or someone gives you an invite (members get an invite to hand out to friends every 10 days or so). Amusingly this has resulted in a large chunk of blüski being furry and LGBT, due to how tightly knit the communities are. I know a lot of the furry discord servers I've been in regularly have people openly offering invites, whereas most of the non-furry servers seem to be completely unaware of how active it is or that it even exists (my experience is that blüski feels way more active than Twitter due to it not giving preferential treatment to Elon shills; you're far more likely to have random people seeing your posts).

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[-] ashtrix@lemmy.ca 37 points 9 months ago

Do it! Do it!

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[-] ulkesh@beehaw.org 36 points 9 months ago

Spock: Twitter is dying.

Kirk: Let it die.

[-] tiny_electron@beehaw.org 34 points 9 months ago

What about a fee for every X install like Unity?

[-] highsight@programming.dev 23 points 9 months ago

$0.20 for every view of your tweet!

[-] transistor@lemdro.id 33 points 9 months ago

Please do it fast.

[-] Nivekk@kbin.social 33 points 9 months ago

That would finish off Twitter instantly.

He's not THAT dumb. Right guys?

....right??

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[-] dark_stang@beehaw.org 19 points 9 months ago

Musk is an absolute idiot. But I'd rather pay for a system than have it mine me for data. I'm guessing he wants to do both though. Because that's what he does with Tesla cars.

[-] HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 13 points 9 months ago

Yeah, it's both. Final answer.

[-] Rockyrikoko@lemm.ee 18 points 9 months ago

Xitter, pronounced shitter

[-] GreenMario@lemm.ee 16 points 9 months ago

He should totally do it and charge per post as well.

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[-] deft@ttrpg.network 16 points 9 months ago

why does he look like that

[-] Uncle_Bagel@midwest.social 22 points 9 months ago

He's had a fair bit of cosmetic surgery over the years. Things like hair plugs to jaw fillers

[-] itsonlygeorge@reddthat.com 13 points 9 months ago

You mean like an idiot who paid billions of dollars for a company only to ruin it in less than a year?

[-] Joyboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 9 months ago

He's too much of a pussy to actually do it, we all know this.

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[-] mojo@lemm.ee 13 points 9 months ago

I really hope this happens. It already was dying, but this would be the final nail in the coffin for the stubborn users who are still on there for some reason. Clearly Twitter Blue has been failing.

[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 11 points 9 months ago

Gotta hand it to Musk, he's mastodon's greatest promoter.

[-] IvanOverdrive@lemm.ee 11 points 9 months ago

So what is a tweet supposed to be called now? A Xext or something?

[-] TheBaldness@beehaw.org 30 points 9 months ago

an X-cretion.

[-] rgb3x3@beehaw.org 26 points 9 months ago

In all seriousness, it's just called a post now. Elon threw away the incredible brand recognition of "Tweet," the noun/verb that every tech company wants. It's like if Google stopped wanting people to use their name as a verb and just go with the generic "search" term.