Twitter is investigating the possibility of letting users post video content behind a paywall, according to an internal company email obtained by The Washington Post. Mockups suggest that users can enable the “Paid Video” feature after adding video content to a tweet and then choose from preset prices, such as $1, $2, $5, or $10. Other users may like the content find or retweet, whether or not they paid to view it.
The feature could be launched in the next one to two weeks
Musk’s purchase of the company appears to have accelerated this pivot. The CEO has publicly announced plans to charge $8 per month to be verified on the social media network; a radical shift to a feature previously available for free to public figures. And according to WaPoTwitter employees have been given a target to launch the new video paywall feature in just one to two weeks.
The tight deadline means Twitter’s internal review teams have just three days to evaluate the risks of charging video content on the service. These risks include users who upload and charge for copyrighted content.
