Twitter Blue no longer gives subscribers access to ad-free news articles, removing one of the few reasons people might have to pay for it.
Twitter Blue normally costs $4.99 per month and it allows people to read ad-free content from publishers that have signed up to be part of the program. However, Twitter has informed those publishers that Twitter Blue no longer includes that perk and, as a result, ad-free versions of their content will not be presented to users of the social network.
Chief Twit
The email sent to publishers, first reported on by 9to5Mac, says that Twitter will be "launching an update to Twitter Blue" in the coming weeks, but right now, ad-free content is gone.
"We are attaching an official notice of termination of notice of the service, as well as termination of the associated Publisher Agreement, given that the service underlying the agreement is no longer active," the email says. The ad-free articles were discontinued almost immediately, as of the close of business on October 31, 2022.
This latest news comes as new owner Elon Musk continues to make sweeping changes at Twitter. He's reportedly had engineers looking into the prospect of resurrecting Vine, while he is also said to have Tesla engineers looking at the Twitter code to see how it works.
More notably, Musk is also said to want to charge Twitter Verified members $20 per month to keep their blue checkmark, something that hasn't gone down well among Musk's target audience. That new subscription is thought to be part of the expanded Twitter Blue that the email to publishers references.
Other changes Musk has made reportedly include having people work 12-hour shifts over seven days per week, all while threatening to lay off half of Twitter's workforce.
