Elon Musk’s Twitter to Launch ‘High Risk’ Paid Video Feature

Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on a paid video feature that will allow people to charge users to view their videos, with the company taking a cut of the proceeds, according to an internal email obtained by the Washington Post. The internal document warned that the feature has a high level of risk related to “copyrighted content, creator/user trust issues, and legal compliance.”

According to the Post, the team behind Twitter’s new video feature, Paywalled Video, has “identified the risk as high,” according to the email, which cites “risks related to copyrighted content, creator/user trust issues, and legal compliance.”

It remains unclear if the video feature was already in the works before Musk completed his takeover of the company last week, but Twitter’s internal review team reportedly only has three days to provide feedback on the potential risks regarding the new video tool.

While Twitter makes most of its money from advertising, Musk has revealed that he is looking at new ways for the company to boost its revenue, including charging users $8 per month for their blue check mark verifications.

The paid video feature would be yet another significant change for the social media platform.

Users who haven’t paid will not be able to see the video, but will reportedly be able to like and retweet the content.

But the new video tool has sparked concerns that users might post copyrighted content or use the feature to scam others, Washington Post notes.

One Twitter employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the outlet that it seems the new feature would likely be used for pornographic videos as well.

Moreover, Twitter had considered allowing porn stars to monetize their adult content via an OnlyFans-style subscription feature, but the plan was quickly derailed after internal teams found that the company is unable to effectively police the child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that’s already on its platform.

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