Social media app TweetDeck placed behind paywall

By : AFP

Date: 16 August 2023 8:44am WAT

FILES-US-TWITTER-COMPUTERS-INTERNET-OUTAGE

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 4, 2019 shows the logo of the US social networking website Twitter, displayed on a smart-phone screen, in Lille, northern France. - Several features on Twitter were down on October 2, 2019, the platform said, with users from Japan to the USA reporting they were unable to log in, use the mobile app or see direct messages."We've been experiencing outages across Twitter and TweetDeck," the social media giant said in a statement, without giving a reason for the disruption. "You might have had trouble Tweeting, getting notifications, or viewing DMs. We're currently working on a fix, and should be back to normal soon." (Photo by Denis Charlet / AFP)

Social media app TweetDeck began going behind a paywall on Tuesday, with users of platform X, formerly known as Twitter, being diverted to a paid-subscription sign-up page when they tried to access it.

X announced in July that TweetDeck, a popular program that allows users to monitor multiple accounts and lists of users at once, would be available only to “verified” account holders from August.

On Tuesday, users attempting to access the service, now rebranded as X Pro, were required to pay for X’s blue checkmark verification for an annual fee of $84.

The social media firm, bought by billionaire Elon Musk last year, has been thrashing around for ways to make a profit, cutting staff and ramping up its paid-for subscriptions.

Last week, CEO Linda Yaccarino said that the company was “close” to breaking even and would beef up staffing that had been slashed by Musk.

X’s verified users are mostly those who have paid to receive the blue checkmark, though Musk has gifted the verification symbol to some.

TweetDeck, launched more than a decade ago, shows messages in columns and its search and posting functions operate differently to the website or the app.

Twitter bought London-based TweetDeck in 2011, with technology media putting the price tag at $40 million at the time.