Now that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, the billionaire has been frantically shuffling through ambitious plans to turn the ailing social media platform into a revenue-driving business.
Case in point, according to internal email obtained by The Washington Post, Musk is plotting for Twitter to charge users to view videos posted by content creators and take a cut of the proceeds — a highly controversial idea that's already been met with internal skepticism.
The team of Twitter engineers has "identified the risk as high" in the email, citing "risks related to copyrighted content, creator/user trust issues, and legal compliance."
In short, Musk is blazing ahead with his infamously ambitious timelines — a "move fast and break things" approach that could signify a tidal change for Twitter's historically sluggish approach to launching new features.
Musk has already made some big structural changes to Twitter, having fired high-up positions at the company and dissolved its board of directors.
The company will also likely be facing mass layoffs, according to The Washington Post.
The new feature detailed in the new email, which is being referred to as "Paywalled Video," allows creators to "enable the paywall once a video has been added to the tweet" and chose from a preset list of prices, ranging from $1 to $10.
"This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators," Musk tweeted on Tuesday, adding that "creators need to make a living!"
But whether Twitter users will be willing to pay for stuff that was previously free remains anything but certain.
Musk has already announced that he is planning to charge $8 a month for Twitter users to stay verified, which has been met with derision.
The billionaire CEO is facing an uphill battle. Now that the company is private, he has to pay around $1 billion in annual interest payments, a result from his $44 buyout, according to the WaPo.
Compounding the trouble, Reuters reported last week that Twitter is bleeding some of its most active users.
Meanwhile, Musk's chaotic moves are likely to alienate advertisers, with the Interpublic Group, a massive inter-agency advertising group, recommending that its clients suspend all paid advertising for at least the week.
That doesn't bode well. It's not out of the question that a paywalled video feature may facilitate the monetization of pornographic content, which may end up scaring off advertisers even further — but Twitter's exact intentions for the feature are still unclear.
According to Reuters, around 13 percent of the site's content is currently marked not safe for work (NSFW).
It's part of Musk's attempt to shift revenue away from advertising on the platform. In a tweet last week, he promised advertisers that Twitter wouldn't become a "free-for-all hellscape."
But that hasn't stopped advertisers from already leaving in droves.
All in all, a paywalled video feature could mark a significant departure for Twitter, a platform still primarily known for short snippets of text.
For now, all we can do is watch.
READ MORE: Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on paid-video feature with ‘high’ risk [The Washington Post]
More on Twitter: Elon Musk Pleads With Stephen King to Pay for Blue Checkmark
The post Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos appeared first on Futurism.
Read this article:
Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos
- A Clockwork Greenshirt Introducing the Alt Left ... - February 6th, 2018 [February 6th, 2018]
- Jordan Towers 70news - March 7th, 2018 [March 7th, 2018]
- Robert Stark Talks to Ashley Messinger About ... - altleft.com - March 18th, 2018 [March 18th, 2018]
- KNOPPIX 8.1.0 - Linux Live System - March 19th, 2018 [March 19th, 2018]
- Protesters Try to Shut Down Jordan Peterson at Queen's ... - April 27th, 2018 [April 27th, 2018]
- KNOPPIX 8.0.0 - Linux Live System - May 25th, 2018 [May 25th, 2018]
- John McCain: Dying Without Dignity - committedconservative.com - June 10th, 2018 [June 10th, 2018]
- What is the Alt Left? - American Greatness - June 29th, 2018 [June 29th, 2018]
- event object JavaScript - Dottoro - July 28th, 2018 [July 28th, 2018]
- Virginia Election Predictions: Will Weather Rain on ... - August 24th, 2018 [August 24th, 2018]
- Alt-Left Melts Down Over "Unmasking Antifa" Act | Zero Hedge - December 19th, 2018 [December 19th, 2018]
- KNOPPIX 7.4.2 / ADRIANE 1.7 - Live CD / DVD - December 19th, 2018 [December 19th, 2018]
- Jacobs Email - IT - Teamwork at Jacobs University - January 4th, 2019 [January 4th, 2019]
- KNOPPIX 7.7.1 - Linux Live System - January 4th, 2019 [January 4th, 2019]
- KNOPPIX 8.1.0 - Linux Live System - knopper.net - March 5th, 2019 [March 5th, 2019]
- The Politically Incorrect Australian - April 22nd, 2019 [April 22nd, 2019]
- Lionel Nation - YouTube - April 22nd, 2019 [April 22nd, 2019]
- Andrew Yang Rejects Support From White Nationalists ... - May 1st, 2019 [May 1st, 2019]
- AltLeft.com "The Left of the AltRight" - May 2nd, 2019 [May 2nd, 2019]
- Automate the Boring Stuff with Python - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- UI Events KeyboardEvent code Values - World Wide Web ... - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- Dont like the facts? Just Schiff the narrative - Boston Herald - October 1st, 2019 [October 1st, 2019]
- Netflix vows crackdown on users who share logins with pals or family and could make you pay EXTRA - The Sun - October 24th, 2019 [October 24th, 2019]
- Everything Paradox Interactive Announced At PDXCON 2019 - Kotaku Australia - October 24th, 2019 [October 24th, 2019]
- The psychology and physiology of propaganda: A study of the radicalization of women - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily - January 30th, 2020 [January 30th, 2020]
- One of the Vail Valley's fur-baby favorites, Dr. Julie Alt, is calling it a career - Vail Daily News - January 30th, 2020 [January 30th, 2020]
- Netflix FINALLY lets you turn those annoying autoplaying trailers off heres how - The Sun - February 12th, 2020 [February 12th, 2020]
- Netflix FORCED to remove nine movies after government objections including boozy Jesus party film - The Sun - February 12th, 2020 [February 12th, 2020]
- Netflix trialling 2.99 cheapest ever plan but it only works on smartphones or tablets - The Sun - February 12th, 2020 [February 12th, 2020]
- Netflix offers first-ever FREE movie that you dont need account to watch - The Sun - February 12th, 2020 [February 12th, 2020]
- The Death Throes of the Failed Sandernista Revolution - Real Context News - March 16th, 2020 [March 16th, 2020]
- Life under lockdown: Italy is being consumed by panic - Spectator.co.uk - March 16th, 2020 [March 16th, 2020]
- Netflix is testing cheap new mobile-only plan that costs just 2.40 a month - The Sun - March 16th, 2020 [March 16th, 2020]
- Howie Carr: Its time to wake up sleepy Joe Biden - Boston Herald - March 16th, 2020 [March 16th, 2020]
- Living in an Italy consumed by fear - The Spectator USA - March 27th, 2020 [March 27th, 2020]
- Hungarian Press Roundup: Weeklies on the State of Emergency - Hungary Today - March 27th, 2020 [March 27th, 2020]
- Essential Mac keyboard shortcuts and key combinations - Macworld UK - May 3rd, 2020 [May 3rd, 2020]
- AltLeft Shuts Down Toronto Comedy Show Over Words 'Free ... - May 3rd, 2020 [May 3rd, 2020]
- COVID-19 UPDATE: East Hampton Testing Site To Open May 15 - 27east.com - May 9th, 2020 [May 9th, 2020]
- Conservative Jews: Do you care about Israel? Then vote Trump out - Forward - June 21st, 2020 [June 21st, 2020]
- As shul reopens, can we make it more welcoming to Orthodox women? - Forward - June 22nd, 2020 [June 22nd, 2020]
- End the Civil War Before It Starts: Vote Engel and Schleifer - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - June 22nd, 2020 [June 22nd, 2020]
- The Rising Blood Tide of The Alt-Left & the Real Threat of Antifa - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News - July 12th, 2020 [July 12th, 2020]
- The Shot Heard Roundand Round and Roundthe World - The Dispatch - July 12th, 2020 [July 12th, 2020]
- Netflix launches shuffle button that plays a random show for viewers who dont know what to watch - The Sun - July 23rd, 2020 [July 23rd, 2020]
- Why the Alt-Left Is a Problem, Too | Vanity Fair - July 23rd, 2020 [July 23rd, 2020]
- What Is Alt-Left? Here's What You Really Need to Know - July 23rd, 2020 [July 23rd, 2020]
- What Is the 'Alt-Left'? For Starters, Not a Thing | WIRED - July 23rd, 2020 [July 23rd, 2020]
- Howie Carr: Alt-left media still cling to their Big (Russia) Lie - Boston Herald - July 28th, 2020 [July 28th, 2020]
- McCarthyite witch-hunt over alleged anti-Semitism explodes in British Labour Party - WSWS - August 3rd, 2020 [August 3rd, 2020]
- Antifa Berkeley: Why the 'Alt-Left' Is a Problem | Time - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- Alt-Right, Alt-Left, Antifa: A Glossary of Extremist ... - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- What is the "alt-left" Trump was talking about? - CBS News - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- Is There an 'Alt-Left'? - Snopes.com - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- Say Goodbye to IITs, IIMs Et Al? NEP 2020 Will Convert Indias Top Institutions Into JNU Copies - Swarajya - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Checking In With the Newsletter Economy - New York Magazine - September 2nd, 2020 [September 2nd, 2020]
- Resident Evil survival horror TV series is coming to Netflix and fans think its the next Stranger Things - The Sun - September 2nd, 2020 [September 2nd, 2020]
- With Republicans like these, who needs Ds? - The Highland County Press - September 2nd, 2020 [September 2nd, 2020]
- Here's Why You Should Never Use the Term "Alt-Left" - POPSUGAR - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- [OPINION] Law and order president? The chaos and violence Trump wants you to be fearful and hateful of is happening now under his watch - Asian... - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Hungarian Press Roundup: No Compromise in Sight over Theatre and Film University - Hungary Today - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Slow Joe Biden is a few fries short of a Happy Meal: Howie Carr - Boston Herald - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Netflix launches its first TV channel that streams shows just like regular telly - The Sun - November 13th, 2020 [November 13th, 2020]
- Bellingcat's Eliot Higgins on messaging Alexei Navalny to say 'we know who tried to kill you' - iNews - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- Hungarian Press Roundup: Two Opposing Views on the Culture War - Hungary Today - February 7th, 2021 [February 7th, 2021]
- Getting Started with Python PyAutoGUI - November 29th, 2021 [November 29th, 2021]
- Sample Macros - Jitbit - November 29th, 2021 [November 29th, 2021]
- Mario Draghis fall and the death of Italian left-wing populism - The Spectator - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- I tracked down my Corbynite troll and now he's in prison - The Telegraph - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Helping Ukraine Not Provoking Russia But a Proper Response to Years of Global Russian Aggression - smallwarsjournal - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- US Gov to Crack Down on "Bossware" That Spies On Employees' Computers - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- Chinese Spaceplane Releases Mystery Object Into Orbit - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- Hackers Just Took Down One of the World's Most Advanced Telescopes - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- AOC Says Her Twitter Account Broke After She Made Fun of Elon Musk - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- Huge Drone Swarm to Form Giant Advertisement Over NYC Skyline - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- That "Research" About How Smartphones Are Causing Deformed Human Bodies Is SEO Spam, You Idiots - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- Jeff Bezos' Housekeeper Says She Had to Climb Out the Window to Use the Bathroom - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- Scientists Use Actual Lunar Soil Sample to Create Rocket Fuel - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- NASA Sets Launch Date for Mission to $10 Quintillion Asteroid - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter - November 4th, 2022 [November 4th, 2022]