Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter CEO Elon Musk noted on Saturday that his social media platform would soon roll out a pay-per-article model for news articles, likely as early as next month. Such a model could allow users to access premium media content without committing to a full-time subscription.
Musk claims that the upcoming “one-click” service on Twitter will be a “major win-win for both media organizations and the public.” The CEO did not reveal what percentage Twitter would retain for itself or what conditions media publishers would need to follow.
“Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per-article basis with one click. This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per-article price for when they want to read an occasional article. Should be a major win-win for both media orgs & the public,” Musk wrote.
As with any Musk timeline, the CEO’s “next month” estimate should be considered as an optimistic best-case scenario for the upcoming service. Musk is known for his ambitious and optimistic target timeframes, which, more often than not, are achieved at a later date. That being said, Twitter’s suite of products is also substantially simpler than those produced by Musk’s other companies like Tesla and SpaceX, so a May rollout for the platform’s pay-per-article feature may be quite realistic.
The reaction to Musk’s announcement has been split, with some users of the social media platform stating that Twitter is getting more expensive with its increasing number of paid services. Others, however, welcomed the announcement, noting that it makes more sense to only pay for specific articles that readers want to access instead of committing to a substantially more expensive subscription to a news publication.
Twitter’s pay-per-article announcement comes as Musk tries to entice creators to use the social media platform more. Musk has been encouraging creators worldwide to monetize their content with Twitter Subscriptions, promising that Twitter will keep none of the money for Subscriptions for the first 12 months.
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