Twitter is removing Blue’s Ad-Free Articles perk: Here’s what it means – Times of India

It seems Elon Musk started his Twitter reign on a wrong foot (or has he?). After facing backlash over the idea of charging $20 a month from verified Twitter accounts, the company may have landed itself in the firing line of Blue subscribers. The microblogging platform has reportedly communicated to Twitter Blue subscribers that it is stripping one of the best perks of the subscription: ad-free articles.
The development was first reported by 9to5mac. Reportedly, Twitter has sent a message to publishers saying that it has “made the decision to discontinue Ad-free Articles, effective as of close of business today, October 31, 2022.” The social media platform says that eliminating ad-free news will allow the company to focus its “resources on adding additional value for our members.”
“We will stop displaying the ‘Twitter Blue Publisher’ label on any Tweets containing your articles. We will no longer be sending a Twitter Blue token when people on Twitter access articles from your properties. This will prevent the ad-free experience on your site from loading,” the company was quoted as saying.

What is Twitter Blue
Last year, Twitter launched ‘Twitter Blue’ service that offers features such as ad-free articles for a premium of $4.99 per month. Apart from letting subscribers read articles without ads from participating publishers, the company also gave subscribers access to a specific set of features such as Undo Tweet. The service also allowed publishers to share a portion of Blue’s revenue.
Twitter Blue subscription is not available in India.
Elon Musk is already facing a backlash over the consideration of charging a monthly fee from verified profile owners. He defends the idea by saying that the company has to pay the bills and cannot rely entirely on advertisers.
Last month in a tweet aimed at advertisers, Musk said that he wants to make the platform a digital space where people can debate without resorting to violence. He addressed advertisers’ concerns of potential conflicts of interest in implementing ‘free speech’ on the platform by saying that Twitter will not become ‘Free-for-All Hellscape’.