X Working On New Premium Subscription Tiers To Let Users Remove Ads



Elon Musk’s X platform (formerly Twitter) has been undergoing a lot of profound changes since it was acquired by the billionaire last year, as he wants to turn the social network into a mega app for calls and even payments. In the meantime, It seems Musk wants to expand the X Premium paid service by breaking it up into different tiers, including one that removes all adds, 9to5 Mac reported.

If you’re not familiar with the name X Premium, that’s because the service was called Twitter Blue before the platform’s rebrand, 9to5 Mac reported. Those who pay for X Premium have access to some exclusive features, such as customizing the app icon, an edit posts button, text formatting, longer posts and videos, and access to X Pro (formerly TweetDeck).

Currently, X Premium subscribers may see fewer ads in their timeline compared to users who don’t pay to use X. But in the future, Musk may give users the option of eliminating ads for good – at a higher price, of course.

Mashable reported that Twitter/X is continuing to throw monetization plans against the wall to see what sticks. It’s latest questionable projectile? Subscription tiers.

According to Mashable, developer and leaker @aaronp613 has dug into the app’s recent iOS update for more details on X’s proposed subscription tiers. Confirming the three-tier subscription system, aaronp613 found that Basic users will still see ads in their For You page, Standard users will have half the amount of ads (the current X Premium subscription experience), and Plus users will have no ads at all.

Subscribing will presumably do more than just reduce ads, though it isn’t clear what other perks might be included, or how X might distribute them among each tier. Still, they’ll have to be some pretty impressive features to make handing over your hard-earned cash to the billionaire-owned microblogging site worth it.

SocialMedia Today reported: In essence, X is looking to spark more interest in its subscription offering by making it cheaper for people to buy a blue checkmark, though they won’t get all the same benefits as the current $8 per month version. It remains to be seen if they’ll even get a blue tick, though presumably, the stripped-down, cheaper version of X Premium would still include the marker of paid verification.

However, it’s the no ads version that’s likely to spark the most discussion and interest.

Meta, TikTok, and X are currently exploring ad-free subscription offerings, as a means to drive more sign-ups for their subscription plans, though the actual motivation may not be new revenue streams, as such, but could be specifically tied to evolving privacy rules in Europe.

SociaMedia Today reported that The Washington Post wrote that the move towards paid, ad-free access could actually align with EU rules on data collection, which essentially require social apps to offer a means for users to opt-out of data tracking for personalization, if they so choose.

By providing a paid option, that may enable each company to keep using data tracking tools, as users would technically then have a way to opt out. But rather than Apple’s iOS 14 update, which lets users simply block app tracking for free, the companies would be looking to make you pay for that privilege.

In my opinion, I don’t think the majority of the people still using X will want to spend money on premium subscriptions. It’s going to be hard for Elon Musk to convince people that paying for a subscription is a great idea after years and years of being able to use the platform for free.