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Elon Musk reveals who might have to pay to use Twitter

Trevor Mogg
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As prospective Twitter owner Elon Musk prepares to take the microblogging service in a new direction, many of its 217 million active users are keen to know what exactly he plans to do with it.

Musk is the kind of guy who likes to people keep guessing, so it’s currently hard to say what will happen (though the long-called-for edit feature seems like a certainty).

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However, tweeting to his 90 million followers on Tuesday, Musk made clear that he wants to keep the service free for casual users, while adding that there could be a “slight cost” for commercial and government accounts.

“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” Musk wrote in the tweet posted on Tuesday, May 3.

Many had been wondering if Musk, who bid $43 billion for Twitter in April, might move the social media service toward a subscription-based model, especially as recent comments by the billionaire entrepreneur suggested a potential move away from ads.

Twitter does currently offer a subscription tier called Twitter Blue, which costs $3 a month for users in certain countries. Twitter Blue includes a few extra features such as undo tweet, bookmark folders, custom navigation, and custom app icons. Recent reports claimed that Musk was interested in reducing the subscription for Twitter Blue to $2 a month, though for now it remains at $3.

Musk’s controversial bid for Twitter was accepted by the board toward the end of last month. However, it still needs to be approved by shareholders and regulators, so it could be several months before it’s finalized.

Assuming the deal goes through, here are some changes Musk has suggested that he may make to the platform once he has full control of it.

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