Yesterday, Elon Musk did a Twitter thread about his plans for a new and improved Twitter. One of the big problems he needs to solve is making the site profitable. He’s planning to do that through a combination of layoffs and, as described in the thread, by turning Twitter Blue into a service for which users will pay $8 per month.
Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
And paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Elon apparently got lots of, shall we say, constructive feedback but didn’t seem moved.
Totally stole idea of charging for insults & arguments from Monty Python tbh https://t.co/oFKRyp3BS7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
One of the people complaining was Twitter user Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, who dumped on Musk personally with this tweet.
Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that “free speech” is actually a $8/mo subscription plan
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 2, 2022
This has been liked more than half a million times despite the fact that it’s quite dumb. The basic service will still be free, for one thing. For another, AOC drives a $50,000+ Tesla. I think the implication of her tweet (that Musk isn’t a very smart business person) is undercut by the fact that she’s currently driving one of his cars.
This morning, Musk kept arguing for the new pricing in general terms.
you get what you pay for
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
Being attacked by both right & left simultaneously is a good sign
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
He used memes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
And this afternoon he replied directly to AOC:
Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
The tweet that followed seemed like a subtweet aimed at AOC.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
And the one after that was clearly about her. Musk posted an image of an AOC periwinkle sweatshirt from her website, the price of which would cover 7 months of Twitter Blue.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
Needless to say, lots of people were making memes about Musk’s replies.
— rightwingsavages (@rtwngsavages) November 2, 2022
I can only hope that this Twitter spat continues. Now that he owns it, AOC is helping Musk’s brand just by tweeting.
Update: AOC kept at it last night.
Not to mention all proceeds go to community organizing like our Homework Helpers program which gives private tutoring to kids who’ve needed learning support since COVID:
Check out our shop!
Support our workers and our communities: https://t.co/hhXgu01Ey8— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022
She claimed her mentions had stopped working and attacked Musk personally.
Also my twitter mentions/notifications conveniently aren’t working tonight, so I was informed via text that I seem to have gotten under a certain billionaire’s skin 😂
Just a reminder that money will never by your way out of insecurity, folks.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022
She kept going with the insults.
One guy’s business plan for a $44 billion over-leveraged purchase is apparently to run around and individually ask people for $8.
Remember that next time you question yourself or your qualifications.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022
I guess the sweatshirt tweet from Musk really got to her because she also RT’d someone else’s comment about it. As I mentioned already, AOC drives a Tesla so this is a weird flex.
ofc @elonmusk would shit on domestic union made apparel prices. after all tesla is now the largest non-union US car manufacturer. https://t.co/ZI124y1nbY
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) November 2, 2022
And this morning she’s still complaining about the $8.
Yo @elonmusk while I have your attention, why should people pay $8 just for their app to get bricked when they say something you don’t like?
This is what my app has looked like ever since my tweet upset you yesterday. What’s good? Doesn’t seem very free speechy to me 🤔 pic.twitter.com/e3hcZ7T9up
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022
She seems a bit out of sorts. That or she really, really wants to date Elon.
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