elon musk twitter main banner

Elon Musk buys 9.2% of Twitter and pushes crypto subscriptions

Tesla chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk purchased 9.2% of Twitter shares early this April 2022 and has since been appointed as one of the board of directors of the social media platform. He has then suggested plenty of changes which include proposals on giving users an option to pay in Dogecoin cryptocurrency. 

This proposal is in line with the Twitter Blue launch last June 2021 wherein Twitter users are offered subscription services and access to premium features monthly which are currently available on the platform’s American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealander demographic.  

Aside from the dogecoin subscription payment, Musk also proposed to slash the price of the subscription as well as ban any form of advertisements on the accounts of premium users. 

‘Price should probably be ~$2/month, but paid 12 months upfront & account doesn’t get a checkmark for 60 days (watch for CC [credit card] chargebacks) & suspended with no refund if used for scam/spam,’ Musk said on his Twitter account. 

According to Musk, these users who opt for Twitter Blue should secure an authentication checkmark on their accounts as well as an option to pay in local currency aside from the Dogecoin payment. 

All of these propositions were suggested by Musk in a series of tweets he posted on his account. 

‘The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive,’ Musk added. 

These proposed plans caught Twitter employees off-guard and caused them to panic over the future of the platform and its ability to moderate content, according to a report by Canberra Times. 

However, the purchase of the 9.2 shares by the Tesla CEO got the pre-market prices of Twitter to skyrocket to 25% upon the announcement made by Musk. The passive stake was purchased by the car distributor mogul on March 14, according to a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Upon the purchase, Musk directed a criticism about the platform on his account saying: ‘Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?’

Twitter has yet to respond to these criticisms by Musk. 

Alongside the Twitter shares, the Dogecoin currency also skyrocketed to double digits upon the incessant tweets of Musk about his suggestions to improve the platform. 

Know more updates about Musk, Twitter Blue and other cryptocurrency news regarding this issue as you browse through Cryptoshimbun. 

Leave a Comment

Please enter CoinGecko Free Api Key to get this plugin works.