THE MEDIA FEAR LOSING THEIR GATEKEEPER RIGHTS ON TWITTER:
The tipping point came during the 2020 presidential election, when Twitter froze the sharing or linking of an explosive New York Post story involving Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and a laptop. Reporter Jake Sherman had his Twitter account suspended briefly for attempting to share it. The problem was that the story was accurate. Twitter put its powerful thumb on the scale of a presidential election.
It’s notable that much of the corporate media are now so bereft at Elon Musk’s completed purchase. Reuters has even set up a live cam outside the company headquarters building in San Francisco. Are they waiting for jumpers? Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz bluntly stated, “It’s like the gates of hell opened on this site tonight,” (which made Musk’s move sound pretty cool, to be honest). NBC News’s reporter Ben Collins declared that “all the red lights are flashing here.”
Still, the absolute best thing that can happen to Twitter is that it becomes less important. Newsrooms are often glued to the platform because of how it acts as a live heartbeat of news. However, in recent years, they’ve also used it to elevate and cancel even the most randomized and powerless of users to teach them a moral lesson. Yet much of the country is not active on Twitter, even if a small number of hall monitors in the media are.
This report is angering Twitter’s self-appointed hall monitors: Twitter to start charging $20 a month for verification under new owner Elon Musk.
The company plans to raise its optional $4.99-a-month premium subscription called Twitter Blue to $19.99 a month. However, that price is subject to change, the outlet reported, citing internal correspondence and people familiar with the matter.
Twitter will add more features, including verification, to bring its subscription up to par with the cost hike.
The billionaire plans to make verified users fork over the cash to keep their status.
Existing verified users have 90 days to subscribe to the new Twitter Blue after its launch or they’ll lose their checkmarks, according to The Verge.
The current Twitter Blue launched about a year ago and offers subscribers a way to view ad-free articles from some publishers as well as additional customization settings.
Musk has been outspoken about his desire to grow subscription numbers to account for half of Twitter’s revenue as well as his eagerness to overhaul the platform’s verification process in the months ahead of his $44 billion takeover of the company on Thursday.
The answer here is simple then, Iowahawk writes:
Roger those todgers, Elon — Twitter’s financial woes are over!