‘Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8’: Chief Twit Elon Musk posts withering response to AOC

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) called out new Twitter CEO Elon Musk for trying to sell ‘free speech’ – leading Musk to retort: ‘Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.’ 

AOC, 33, isn’t shy when it comes to making her opinions known on SpaceX founder, and on Tuesday evening she called out Musk, 51, for proposing to charge users $8-a-month for a verification checkmark. 

‘Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that “free speech” is actually an $8/[month] subscription plan,’ she wrote. 

The entrepreneur then issued his withering response. 

Musk, who’s estimated to be worth $223billion, announced earlier on Tuesday that the current ‘lords and peasants system’ in place at Twitter was ‘bulls**t.’ 

‘Power to the people! Blue for $8/[month].’ 

As part of his proposed plan, which is unclear when it will go into effect, verified users will get ‘priority in replies, mention, and searches…ability to post long video and audio, and half as many ads.’ 

He also said that publishers who are ‘willing to work’ with Twitter will get a ‘paywall bypass’ and social media stars will also be getting a secondary heading like politicians. Content creators will also get rewarded through a revenue stream. 

‘You get what you pay for,’ the father-of-eight tweeted on Wednesday. He also celebrated ‘being attacked by both the right and left simultaneously,’ calling it a ‘good sign.’ 

 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 33, called out Elon Musk, 51, for ‘selling people on the idea that “free speech” is actually an $8/[month] subscription plan’

Musk, who’s estimated to be worth $223billion, announced earlier on Tuesday that the current ‘lords and peasants system’ in place at Twitter was ‘bulls**t’

The Tesla CEO has received plenty of backlash on his proposal, including author Stephen King and actress Kathy Burke. 

The world’s richest man previously mulled a $20-per-month blue tick verification fee, but appeared to lower the cost following criticism from horror author Stephen King. 

Musk is looking to make good on his promise to make the social media platform turn a profit by introducing a charge for Twitter users wanting to keep their verification badge.

On Wednesday, the new Twitter CEO celebrated being ‘attacked by both the right and left simultaneously’ and said ‘you get what you pay for’ 

His plan to reportedly charge $20-a-month, however, appeared to sit poorly with King, who tweeted: ‘$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me,’ wrote King, who has 6.9million followers. ‘If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.’

Musk replied: ‘We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers.

‘How about $8?’ he asked, which is the price he’s settled on.

King isn’t the only blue-tick Twitter user to threaten to abandon their checkmark if a charge is introduced to the platform.

Actress, writer and comedian Kathy Burke also said she wouldn’t pay, tweeting: ‘Musk can f*** off with his idea of charging blue-tickers. I give my all to this hell site for FREE.

‘Cheeky b**** should be paying ME,’ she added. ‘Don’t need the poxy thing anyway.’

Celebrities who have threatened to boycott the site include TV screenwriter Shonda Rhimes, actor Mia Farrow, as well as Madam Secretary star Téa Leoni, She Hulk actor Jameela Jamil, as well as, authors and activists Shaun King and Amy Siskind.

George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, also said he would consider heading for the digital door.

Musk detailed his plan on the platform, proposing those who pay will get ‘priority in replies, mention, and searches…ability to post long video and audio, and half as many ads’ 

Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis posted a poll on Monday asking people if they would pay $5, $10 or $15 a month, or nothing for verification. Around 81 percent said they wouldn’t pay, as of Tuesday.

‘Interesting,’ said Musk in response to the poll.

Critics have derided the mark, often granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders and journalists, as an elite status symbol.

But Twitter also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people.

Musk appears to have taken Monday’s criticism from the public to heart as he opted to lower the proposed blue mark cost following his outing to Klum’s premier Halloween party.

 Author Stephen King said he will leave Twitter if Musk brings in a $20-a-month charge for him to keep his blue check

Author Stephen King, who wrote The Shining, said he will leave the platform if Musk introduces a blue-tick verification charge

English actress, writer and comedian Kathy Burke also said she wouldn’t pay if a charge is introduced tot he platform

She told Musk he can f**k off with his idea and that he should be ‘paying ME’ 

The world’s richest man was pictured arriving at the party in a red Samurai-style costume as reports emerge that he is preparing to cut close to 2,000 Twitter jobs, amounting to around 25 percent of its workforce.

Musk looked triumphant as he posed on the red carpet in his armor, with his street clothes still visible underneath. It’s not clear what Musk was supposed to be dressed as for Klum’s celebration

According to the website for the high-end costume store, Abracadabra NYC, Musk’s outfit is the Devil’s Champion-Leather Armor set that retails for $7,500. At the time of writing, the website says that there is only one costume remaining in stock.

The billionaire’s mother, Maye, was also present at the party and inside Twitter’s offices on West 17th Street.

He was exclusively pictured by DailyMail.com leaving her house this week on his way to Twitter’s New York City headquarters.  

Twitter limits some content moderation tools just days before the midterms 

Days after Elon Musk took over Twitter and just before the midterms in America, the social media site has limited some content moderation tools.

It may hamper staff’s ability to stop misinformation, as they will not be able to manually change or punish accounts.

The change is the latest implemented by Musk and comes after he made significant staff cuts and fired the Twitter board, making himself the sole member.

Those working in Twitter’s Trust and Safety organization are currently unable to alter or punish accounts breaking the platform’s rules on misleading information, offensive posts and hate speech.

According to insiders on the matter, they can only penalize people making posts that violate Twitter rules to the extent of real-world harm, according to Bloomberg.

They added that the team were manually enforcing those posts.

The change is the latest implemented by Musk, pictured at Twitter HQ, and comes after he made significant staff cuts and fired the Twitter board, making himself the sole member

At Twitter, staff have dashboards, called agent tools, in order to ban or suspend accounts that have breached policy.

Policy breaches can be detected automatically or flagged by other Twitter users.

However, only Twitter employees can remove or suspend accounts by using the dashboard.

But the tools have been out of use since last week, according to insiders.

It is alleged that this restriction has been put in place as Twitter transitions to Musk ownership in a bid to stop changes to the app being asked for by employees.

Sources at the company who asked to remain anonymous revealed that the high level of access to the tools given to employees has dropped from in the hundreds to just 15.