Elon Musk: Twitter may charge ‘slight’ fee for commercial and government users

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Twitter could start charging a “slight cost” for government and commercial users in comments that come just over a week since he reached a deal to buy the social media platform.

“Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing,” Musk tweeted initially.

“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” he added a few hours later.

It is not exactly clear what Musk means by “casual users” or how Twitter would characterize that usage. 

Last year, a subscription service called Twitter Blue was rolled out by the social media platform that gives subscribers access to special features, such as an “undo feature” that allows people to change or “undo” a tweet with the use of a customizable timer.

Another feature accessible to Twitter Blue subscribers is the option to read tweets through a “reader mode” in which longer threads are turned “into easy-to-read text so you can read all the latest content seamlessly,” according to the company.

However, the social media platform is free for users to access and create accounts, similar to Facebook and Instagram.

Musk’s latest tweets come as Twitter users watch for hints of any changes the Tesla CEO plans to make at the social media platform. 

In recent days, he has made suggestions on features he wants to see and offered thoughts on the function of Twitter.

“Twitter DMs should have end to end encryption like Signal, so no one can spy on or hack your messages,” Musk suggested in a tweet several days following the deal. 

“For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally,” Musk said in another tweet after the deal.