![\"According](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2022\/11\/twitter-charge-users-watch-videos-300x158.jpg\")
<\/div>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.<\/p>
Case in point, according to internal email obtained by The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>, 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.<\/p> 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.\"<\/p> 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.<\/p> Musk has already made some big structural changes to Twitter, having fired high-up positions at the company<\/a> and dissolved its board of directors<\/a>.<\/p> The company will also likely be facing mass layoffs, according to The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>.<\/p> 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.<\/p> \"This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators,\" Musk tweeted<\/a> on Tuesday, adding<\/a> that \"creators need to make a living!\"<\/p> But whether Twitter users will be willing to pay for stuff that was previously free remains anything but certain.<\/p> 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<\/a>.<\/p> 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<\/em>.<\/p> Compounding the trouble, Reuters<\/em> reported<\/a> last week that Twitter is bleeding some of its most active users.<\/p> Meanwhile, Musk's chaotic moves are likely to alienate advertisers, with the Interpublic Group, a massive inter-agency advertising group, recommending<\/a> that its clients suspend all paid advertising for at least the week.<\/p> 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.<\/p> According to Reuters<\/em><\/a>, around 13 percent of the site's content is currently marked not safe for work (NSFW).<\/p> 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.\"<\/p> But that hasn't stopped advertisers from already leaving in droves<\/a>.<\/p> All in all, a paywalled video feature could mark a significant departure for Twitter, a platform still primarily known for short snippets of text.<\/p> For now, all we can do is watch.<\/p> READ MORE: <\/strong>Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on paid-video feature with ‘high’ risk<\/a> [The Washington Post<\/em>] More on Twitter:<\/strong> Elon Musk Pleads With Stephen King to Pay for Blue Checkmark<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Read the original post:<\/p> Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 \u2014 a highly controversial idea that's already been met with internal skepticism. Continue reading
<\/strong><\/p>