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.
Visit link:
Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos
- There Might Be Ocean World Planets Within the Milky Way, Planetary Scientist Claims - Science Times - June 22nd, 2020 [June 22nd, 2020]
- 10 Worst Movies By Great Horror Directors, According To Rotten Tomatoes - Screen Rant - June 22nd, 2020 [June 22nd, 2020]
- Space Perspective is a startup that wants to balloon you toward space - Business Insider - Business Insider - June 22nd, 2020 [June 22nd, 2020]
- Space Outside, Sexism Inside: Mary Robinette Kowals The Relentless Moon - Den of Geek - July 13th, 2020 [July 13th, 2020]
- Here are the three missions to Mars that are happening this month - CTV News - July 14th, 2020 [July 14th, 2020]
- My Coronavirus Summer 2020 Reading List - The National Interest - July 16th, 2020 [July 16th, 2020]
- U.A.E. Mars mission from Japan delayed again by weather - CTV News - July 16th, 2020 [July 16th, 2020]
- How Perseverance will Search for Life on Mars - The Planetary Society - July 16th, 2020 [July 16th, 2020]
- Teen's mission to be first person to walk on Mars - WISHTV.com - July 18th, 2020 [July 18th, 2020]
- The Expanse Season 5 Cast, Trailer And What Can We Expect? - World Top Trend - July 19th, 2020 [July 19th, 2020]
- Five Scientific Achievements That Happened During Coronavirus Lockdown - Smithsonian Magazine - July 19th, 2020 [July 19th, 2020]
- UAE Mars mission brings hope amid challenging year - The National - July 19th, 2020 [July 19th, 2020]
- Is there life on Mars? - The Economist - July 22nd, 2020 [July 22nd, 2020]
- Wilkin: Never a Saratoga opening day like this one - Times Union - July 23rd, 2020 [July 23rd, 2020]
- Flamingos in Abu Dhabi: are the birds thriving because humans backed off? - The National - July 23rd, 2020 [July 23rd, 2020]
- 10 things you need to know today: July 20, 2020 - The Week Magazine - July 24th, 2020 [July 24th, 2020]
- Guide to the classics: H.G. Wells' 'The War Of The Worlds' - The Star Online - July 26th, 2020 [July 26th, 2020]
- Colonizing our solar system will make our species very hard to eliminate - The Next Web - July 26th, 2020 [July 26th, 2020]
- Learning From Ben Franklin and Henk Rogers We Could Thrive - Newsmax - July 26th, 2020 [July 26th, 2020]
- Mars Lays Red Carpet: Three Earthly Visitors Take Flight Towards the Red Planet Within 11 Days - The Weather Channel - July 26th, 2020 [July 26th, 2020]
- Alyssa Carson: The teenager on a mission to Mars - Siliconrepublic.com - July 28th, 2020 [July 28th, 2020]
- Elon Musk drops details for SpaceX Mars mega-colony - CNET - July 28th, 2020 [July 28th, 2020]
- Planet Earth Report Global Pandemic is a Hinge in History to Havens for Ancient Alien Life - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel - July 29th, 2020 [July 29th, 2020]
- Weekly Digest (July 20-24, 2020): Top Weather, Environment and Science Stories of the Week - The Weather Channel - July 29th, 2020 [July 29th, 2020]
- February looks to be exciting month for Mars exploration - The Robesonian - July 29th, 2020 [July 29th, 2020]
- Man wanting to go to Mars isolates for 366 days in tiny home with 5 others as part of study - CBS17.com - July 29th, 2020 [July 29th, 2020]
- Top news of the day: Saifuddin Soz claims he is kept under house arrest without formal orders; Jaya Jaitly gets four years in jail in corruption case... - July 30th, 2020 [July 30th, 2020]
- To Infinity And Beyond - farmingdale-observer.com - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- Man wanting to go to Mars isolates for 366 days in tiny habitat with 5 others as part of study - CBS17.com - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- Government moves from one 'emergency' to the next - The Republic - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- NASA To Use Nuclear Power Can Help Colonize Moon And Mars. Is It Worth It? - Inventiva - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- Elon Musk selling LA homes and dreams of move to 'self-sustaining' Mars colony - Daily Star - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- Nuclear power plants could power colonies on the Moon and Mars - SlashGear - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- To infinity and beyond: Sex dolls in space could be a reality for Mars 2024 mission - IOL - July 31st, 2020 [July 31st, 2020]
- A Space Alliance Between the Quads: The United States, Japan, Australia, and India - International Policy Digest - August 2nd, 2020 [August 2nd, 2020]
- Suncream made of skin pigment will help shield astronauts from lethal x-ray radiation, scientists suggest - The Independent - August 4th, 2020 [August 4th, 2020]
- How to Feed a Mars Colony of 1 Million People | Space - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- Mars Colony: Frontier on Steam - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- At Night, the Martian Sky Pulses and Glows When Viewed in Ultraviolet Light - Gizmodo - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- From emperor penguins to 96-year-old graduates, here's the good news this week - iNews - August 8th, 2020 [August 8th, 2020]
- At Night, the Martian Sky Pulses and Glows When Viewed in Ultraviolet Light - Gizmodo UK - August 8th, 2020 [August 8th, 2020]
- UAE Hopes to Inspire Next Generation with Arab World's First Mission to Mars - The Washington Diplomat - August 8th, 2020 [August 8th, 2020]
- Life on Mars: Lava tubes could be key to Mars colony - 'Extraordinary for settlement' - Daily Express - August 8th, 2020 [August 8th, 2020]
- At Night, the Martian Sky Pulses and Glows When Viewed in Ultraviolet Light - Gizmodo Australia - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Lovecraft Country and HP Lovecraft's racism: how the HBO series and the novel it's based on reappropriate the author's work. - Slate - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Creating your own video games isnt impossible this training can get you on the path - Boing Boing - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- 9 Ways To Spend A Beautiful Fall Weekend In Flagstaff - TravelAwaits - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Learn How To Build Your Own Strategy Based Video Game With These Online Classes - ExtremeTech - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Life on Mars: Scientists identify the 'extraordinary' key to colonising Mars - Daily Express - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- All the Reasons Why Humans Shouldn't Colonize Mars ... - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Five steps to colonising Mars - BBC Future - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Goodbye Mars One, The Fake Mission To Mars That Fooled The ... - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- How Do We Colonize Mars? - Universe Today - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- VIDEO: Stray Cats Spotted at EPCOT - Inside the Magic - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Expanse: The Real-Life Inspirations Behind The Belters - Screen Rant - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Per Aspera is Massive and Its Depiction of Mars is Fantastic - COGconnected - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Elon Musk and SpaceX's Mars mission may be difficult - Somag News - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Forget Mars, humans should head to Venus and live in the clouds - scientist - Daily Express - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- Is now the time to explore the final frontier of investing? - The National - September 8th, 2020 [September 8th, 2020]
- #SpaceWatchGL Column: The hell of humans in heaven - Debating the risks of space technology and habitation - SpaceWatch.Global - October 30th, 2020 [October 30th, 2020]
- Mohammed bin Rashid announces second satellite to be built by an all-Emirati team - WAM EN - October 30th, 2020 [October 30th, 2020]
- There's water on the moon's sunlit surface. Colonization could be on the horizon. - News@Northeastern - October 30th, 2020 [October 30th, 2020]
- The five biggest effects Trump has had on the US space program - MIT Technology Review - October 30th, 2020 [October 30th, 2020]
- Elon Musks SpaceX will make its own laws on Mars - The Independent - October 30th, 2020 [October 30th, 2020]
- Civilization 6: How to Win as Babylon (Tips, Tricks, & Strategies) - Screen Rant - December 24th, 2020 [December 24th, 2020]
- The Midnight Sky ending explained - what happened to Earth? - digitalspy.com - December 24th, 2020 [December 24th, 2020]
- Balkan mystic predicts world will see 'cataclysms and disasters' - Metro.co.uk - December 24th, 2020 [December 24th, 2020]
- For NASA, It Should Be Mars or Bust - The Wall Street Journal - December 24th, 2020 [December 24th, 2020]
- How AI Will Help the U.S. to Mars and Beyond - Nextgov - December 24th, 2020 [December 24th, 2020]
- Chimpanzees are important and accomplished tracing the path to space - Amico Hoops - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Team Behind Space Probe Headed To Mars Includes Staff From CU Boulder - Yahoo News - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- How Elon Musk And A Mission To Mars Might Boost Internet Speeds In Rural Kansas - KCUR - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Advice From Tesla's Elon Musk: Forget The Money, Ignore Critics, Think Big - InsideEVs - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Newly Invented Fusion Rocket Thruster Concept Might be Our Ticket to Mars and Beyond! - Tech Times - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- NASA and CSA Will Give $500,000 To The Best Idea of Food Production In Space - Science Times - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- Jeff Bezos Renews Focus on Blue Origin, Which Has Been Slower to Launch - The New York Times - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- Opinion | Why Biden must pursue space diplomacy with Russia and China - Politico - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- "The Expanse" shows the dangers of treating extremism as a joke - Salon - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- End of the world: Elon Musk warns of 'civilisation collapse' if we don't leave Earth soon - Daily Express - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- Elon Musk opens up about Mars, Gamestop and Dogecoin | Heres everything he said - Republic World - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]