Twitter is subject to a charge: Restriction of interaction and reach without a subscription
by David Wurm 
on March 28, 2023, 14:29 | Write a comment
Twitter in its current form will be chargeable. Without Twitter Blue, the reach of your own tweets will be limited in the future. In addition, important functions for interacting with others should only be available with a subscription.
Elon Musk is drastically restricting the once open Twitter. The ulterior motive: to put an end to bots on Twitter. In the future, verification in the form of payment data will be necessary. However, this verification costs money – namely the Twitter Blue subscription, for seven dollars a month (paid annually) or eight dollars (paid monthly).
Formerly "real" verification, today against subscription
In the past, the blue verification hook was intended for public figures or to ensure identity. With Twitter Blue, for example, an account with no followers can now pretend to be Elon Musk and decorate itself with a blue tick. In the past, this was only possible from a certain number of followers or sufficient public interest, today only for money.
Today, in addition to the blue verification tick, with Twitter Blue there is an opportunity to edit tweets, upload videos in 1080p, a read mode, folders in bookmarks. In the future, paying users will only see half of the advertising. Furthermore, their answers and tweets should be preferred and displayed higher up.
Restrictions without Twitter Blue are increasing
The Twitter CEO announces on Twitter, starting April 15th, stop recommending any Tweets from non-paying accounts in the For You tab. This reduces the reach of your own followers without a subscription, since they then only appear in the "Following" feed. Smaller accounts with fewer tweets are currently also recommended to other users free of charge.
Musk also announces that he will no longer allow unpaid accounts to participate in surveys in order to prevent "swarming bots" from participating. But bots are not Proproblem if they pay for Twitter Blue, the manager writes in a follow-up tweet.
Another restriction only came into effect last week: Two-factor authentication via SMS is now only possible for Twitter Blue users. Others have to switch to a two-factor app (i.e. TOTP using a generator).
