Commercial, Government Users To Start Paying For Twitter — Elon Musk

Billionaire entrepreneur, Elon Musk said Twitter Inc might charge a “slight” fee for commercial and government users.

The development is said to be part of the billionaire’s push to grow revenue which has lagged behind larger rivals like Meta Platforms Inc’s (FB.O) Facebook.

Twitter had earlier confirmed the selling of the platform to Musk in a deal valued at $44 billion, which dramatic shift for the board, that had originally maneuvered to block Musk from taking the social media network private.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a joint statement announcing the takeover.

However, Musk in a tweet in the early hours of Wednesday, said commercial and government users will pay for the platform.

He, however, said the micro-blogging site would “always” remain free for casual users.

Justifying his move to commercialise the platform for commercial and government users in a series of tweets, the billionaire entrepreneur said free services led to the downfall of great businesses.

He wrote, “Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users.”

The entrepreneur in a reply to a tweet added, “Some revenue is better than none!”