Twitter to charge Apple users more for revamped Blue service

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REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) – Twitter will relaunch a revamped version of its subscription service Twitter Blue on Monday at a higher price for Apple users, the company said in a tweet on Saturday.

The company said users could subscribe to the revamped service that will allow subscribers to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos and get a blue checkmark post account verification, for $8 per month through the web but for $11 per month through Apple iOS.

Twitter did not explain why Apple users were being charged more than others on the web but there have been media reports that the company was looking for ways to offset fees charged in the App Store.

Twitter had initially launched Twitter Blue early in November before pausing it as fake accounts mushroomed. It was then scheduled to launch again on Nov. 29 but was pushed back.

Musk’s grievances with Apple

Elon Musk, who took Twitter private for $44 billion in November had in a series of tweets last month listed various grievances with Apple, including the 30% fee the iPhone maker charges software developers for in-app purchases.

He had then accused Apple of threatening to block Twitter from its app store and also said that the iPhone maker had stopped advertising on the social media platform.

However, after a subsequent meeting with Apple chief executive Tim Cook, he tweeted that the misunderstanding about Twitter being removed from Apple’s app store was resolved.

Both Twitter and Apple did not respond to Reuters request for comments.

Twitter to roll out new ad controls

In other news, Twitter told advertisers in an email on Thursday that it will roll out new controls as soon as this week to let companies prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets containing certain keywords.

The new controls are part of Twitter’s effort to reassure and lure back advertisers that have pulled ads off the platform since it was purchased by Musk, amid reports from civil rights groups that hate speech has risen since the acquisition and after several banned or suspended accounts were reinstated.

Twitter earns nearly 90% of its revenue from selling digital ads. Musk recently attributed a “massive drop in revenue” to civil rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads.

In a call on Thursday with an advertising industry group, a Twitter representative said the platform was considering bringing its content moderators, many of whom are contracted through third-party vendors, in-house, according to a source familiar with the remarks.

The Twitter representative said bringing content moderators in-house would allow the platform to invest more in moderation for non-English languages, according to the source.

(By Sheila Dang; Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas, Gokul Pisharody and Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, David Gregorio and Aurora Ellis)

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