Maybe he’s trying to recoup his $44 billion.
Elon Musk on Tuesday night dropped a hint on what will soon be his social media platform that businesses and government agencies might have to pay to use Twitter.
“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” Musk tweeted.
The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX added a cryptic tweet about Freemasons.
“Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing,” Musk said.
Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022
Currently, no social media platform charges for users to use the site.
After Musk’s purchase of the site, some conservatives saw a jump in the number of followers they have on Twitter, even as some liberals bemoan the loss of fans.
“Donald Trump Jr. led the way in questioning the giant spike, which saw him gain 87,296 new followers by Tuesday — and another 119,022 by early Wednesday, after weeks of averaging only a few thousand each day,” the New York Post reported.
“While I’m awesome and totally deserving of 87,000 new followers a day it seems that someone took the shackles off my account,” former President Donald Trump’s son wrote. “Wonder if they’re burning the evidence before new mgmt comes in?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis — a frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 — saw his followers jump by more than 200,000 over the past few days, the Post reported. Fox News host Tucker Carlson picked up nearly 150,000 as Rep. Matt Gaetz soared by more than 60,000 followers, prompting him to say, “It really is something how conservative accounts are getting massive follower increases today….”
Conservative talk show host Dana Loesch offered a theory. “It’s too soon for Musk to have done this but I’m wondering if something was changed by those seeking to minimize their fingerprint ahead of potential transparency,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Noticing an increase in followers and engagement after losing huge chunks (or static follower count for weeks on end) for the past few years. Also seeing tweets from people I (sic) whose accounts I never see and am not having to refollow other conservatives repeatedly,” Loesch wrote.
Conservatives are well aware of how Twitter limits their accounts. Many believe that the social media giant can “shadow-ban” them, which means their posts don’t even appear on their followers’ newsfeeds. Plus, Twitter can simply purge an account’s followers and censor any content they choose by labeling it “hate speech” or “harassment.”
Meanwhile, a slew of liberals came out to bemoan lost followers.
“Just lost 2000 followers. Anyone else losing followers?” Neera Tanden, a Biden nominee who withdrew and longtime supporter of Hillary Clinton, wrote on Twitter.
“Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill retweeted Tanden’s tweet, adding: “I just lost more than 8,000 followers in the last couple of hours. Was it something I said?”
Weird. I just lost more than 8,000 followers in the last couple of hours. Was it something I said? https://t.co/TS3vwDephc
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) April 25, 2022
“I’m down about the same (proportionately) – around 1800. Can’t tell if it’s dead bots or people afraid that Elon will find out they were following me,” former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann tweeted.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.