Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that a higher-priced subscription to the social media platform will not include ads.
The billionaire also said ads were “too common and too large on Twitter” and that steps would be taken to address these issues in the 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 sales” to rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads.
In early December, Musk announced that Twitter’s basic blue tick will now have half the ads and will offer a higher tier of no ads by 2023.
Twitter last week said It would cost the Twitter Blue subscription for Android at $11 (about Rs 900) a month – the same as for iOS subscribers – while offering a cheaper annual plan for web users compared to monthly fees.
The blue tick — previously free for verified accounts held by politicians, celebrities, journalists, and other public figures — is now available to anyone willing to pay. It was launched last year to help Twitter grow revenue as owner Elon Musk struggles to retain advertisers.
Google Android users can get Twitter Blue’s monthly subscription for $11 (approx. The higher prices for Android users probably offset the fees charged by Android’s Google Play Store like Apple’s App Store. The annual plan for Blue’s web-only subscription was US$84 (approx. Rs.6,800), a discount from the monthly web subscription price of US$8 (approx. Rs.650).
The discount for web users would be available in countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, Twitter said.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
