Elon Musk reportedly wants to charge for tweet embeds – By K. Holt (Engadget) / April 29, 2022
He also plans to replace Twitter’s CEO if his $44 billion takeover goes through, according to Reuters.
Should Elon Musk’s planned takeover of Twitter be finalized, he may bring in some changes for how tweed embeds work on third-party websites and services. Musk has floated the idea of charging users to embed or quote tweets from verified accounts, according to Reuters, but that wouldn’t stop anyone from simply screenshotting a tweet and using that instead.
Even before Twitter’s board accepted Musk’s offer, there were signs of changes for how embeds work. The company altered some JavaScript, which led to the text of deleted tweets disappearing from sites they were embedded on. A Twitter senior product manager said the change was made to “better respect when people have chosen to delete their tweets.” However, after a backlash from the likes of open web and preservation advocates, Twitter backtracked on the move.
Musk reportedly mooted the idea of charging for embeds while attempting to secure debt to finance his $44 billion buyout. He secured $13 billion in loans against Twitter and a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla stock (which he this week sold $8.5 billion worth of).
In addition, Musk has mentioned other ways of improving Twitter’s bottom line but hasn’t made firm commitments on those as yet. He has suggested making changes to the Twitter Blue service to make it more appealing to potential subscribers. In talks with banks, Musk reportedly raised the possibility of job cuts, but isn’t expected to make firm decisions on that front until/if he takes the company private. In addition, Musk has publicly mused about getting rid of salaries for board directors, which would save the company around $3 million per year.
Twitter’s potential new owner is also said to have plans to replace CEO Parag Agrawal, who took the reins from Jack Dorsey in November. Agrawal is expected to stay in charge until the sale to Musk goes through. According to Reuters, Musk told Twitter chairman Bret Taylor that he wasn’t confident in the company’s management. However, a lot of details about what Musk’s takeover will mean for the company remain up in the air and won’t be clear for a while.
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