(San Francisco, CA) Twitter announced today that it would roll out a handful of new features over the next few quarters aimed at increasing monetization. Major social media networks like Twitter and Facebook have recently faced increased pressure to innovate from hot newcomers like TikTok, Clubhouse, and Dispo. Adding to the pressure have also been a growing number of subscriber-focused services like Patreon and OnlyFans that allow creators & influences to charge fees for access to content.
Most notable among the improvements aimed at increasing profitability was a new "super unfollow" feature. According to an announcement, the feature will "require users to pay a fee to an account they wish to unfollow, block, or mute". The fee will be flat (1 BTC) for non-verified accounts and variable (1-10 BTC) for verified ones. Twitter also announced it will start charging to mute or block users, with pricing starting at 1 BTC per block and 0.5 BTC per mute.
Users are in uproar over the new features, which some have described as "ransom" or "making shitposting somehow profitable". One user protested that "all we wanted was an edit button". Twitter CEO and founder Jack Dorsey has this to say about the rollout
"I really believe in Bitcoin and feel this will be a great way to acquire more of it so we can send it to Square. Also you will never have an edit button."