As Advertisers Flee Twitter, Elon Musk Says He Will Charge Users To Send Messages To Celebrities: Report

Chief Twit threatened to name and shame advertisers who withdraw from the platform.

As new Twitter boss Elon Musk has embarked on cost-cutting measures, including massive layoffs at the company, he also plans to roll out a new feature that will charge users for sending direct messages to high-profile accounts or celebrities on the platform. The New York Times reported.

According to the report, “a product team is focusing on ‘Very Important Tweeters’ on the network, the two people with knowledge of the work said, and according to internal documents.” It added that users can send private messages to their favorite stars for a reasonable fee.

This comes after Mr Musk said on Nov. 4 that Twitter had seen a “massive drop in revenue” as several advertisers halted spending on the platform following the $44 billion takeover of the microblogging site by Tesla and the SpaceX boss .

“Twitter has suffered a massive drop in revenue as activist groups have pressured advertisers, despite the fact that content moderation has not changed and we have done everything we can to appease activists,” the billionaire tweeted.

“Extremely screwed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America,” he continued.

Unfortunately, in terms of reducing Twitter’s power, there is no choice when the company is losing over $4 million a day.

All those who left were offered 3 months’ severance pay, which is 50% more than required by law.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022

According to internal documents reviewed by The New York Times, early prototypes depicted a Twitter user asking musician Post Malone about his favorite records. Messages like this may appear in a dedicated section of the Direct Message inbox. The celebrities, in turn, would have the choice to receive them.

According to the documents, Twitter would most likely make a fee cut, the news outlet said.

Amidst this, the “Chief Twit” also threatened to name and shame advertisers who are withdrawing from the social media platform. The billionaire replied to a netizen: “Thank you. A thermonuclear name and disgrace is exactly what will happen if this continues.”

Also read: Elon Musk avoided putting his name on any Twitter layoff memos: report

This morning he also justified his decision to lay off employees collectively. Mr Musk said Twitter was losing more than $4 million a day and that was affecting employees who received severance pay.

He tweeted: “Unfortunately in terms of reducing the power of Twitter when the company is losing over $4 million a day, there is no choice.

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