Elon Musk Says Higher Priced Twitter Subscription Will Not Carry Advertisements

Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that a higher priced subscription of the social media platform will not carry advertisements.

The billionaire also said that ads are “too frequent on Twitter and too big,” and that steps will be taken to address those issues in coming weeks.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter earns nearly 90 percent of its revenue from selling digital ads and Musk recently attributed a “massive drop in revenue” to rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads.

Earlier in December, Musk announced that Twitter’s Basic blue tick will have half the number of advertisements and that it will offer a higher tier with no advertisements by 2023.

Last week, Twitter said it would price Twitter Blue subscription for Android at $11 (roughly Rs. 900) per month – the same as for iOS subscribers – while offering a cheaper annual plan for web users when compared to monthly charges.

The blue check mark – previously free for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures – will now be open to anyone prepared to pay. It was rolled out last year to help Twitter grow revenue as owner Elon Musk fights to retain advertisers.

Google’s Android users will be able to purchase Twitter Blue’s monthly subscription for $11 (roughly Rs. 900), the same price as for Apple’s iOS users, Twitter said on its website. The higher pricing for Android users is likely to offset fees charged by Android’s Google Play Store, like Apple’s App Store. The annual plan for subscription to Blue, only available on the web, was priced at $84 (roughly Rs. 6,800), a discount to the monthly web subscription price of $8 (roughly Rs. 650).

The discount for web users would be available in countries including United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, Twitter said.

© Thomson Reuters 2023