Elon Musk suggests Twitter Blue changes, including option to pay with Dogecoin

Twitter Inc's biggest shareholder has big plans for the service

Mr Musk unveils a new all-wheel-drive version of the Model S car in Hawthorne, California, in 2014. Reuters

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Getty Images

Mr Musk with music producer Quincy Jones. AFP

The wealthiest person in the world with a worth of $274.3 billion, Mr Musk was named 'Person of the Year' by 'Time' magazine in 2021. Getty Images

Focus on Mr Musk's taxes grew last year as Tesla achieved a rarefied $1 trillion in market value. Reuters

The billionaire has hit back, saying he does not draw a salary from either SpaceX or Tesla, and pays an effective tax rate of 53 per cent on stock options he exercises. AFP

Then US president Barack Obama speaks to Mr Musk on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2010. Reuters

Mr Musk during a television interview after Tesla's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market in New York, in 2010. Reuters

With former wife Talulah Riley at the 2011 Orange British Academy Film Awards in London. Getty Images

With Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe after a test drive of the Tesla Model S P85D in Palo Alto, California, in 2015. Reuters

Mr Musk during the 67th International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016. EPA

From left: SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, then US president Donald Trump and Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky during a meeting at the White House. AFP

Mr Musk and former wife Grimes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 2018. AFP

Mr Musk leaves a court in New York City, in 2019, after a hearing in a lawsuit brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Getty Images

A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft is seen before Mr Musk gives an update on the company's Mars rocket Starship in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2019. Reuters

Mr Musk at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, last year. EPA

Dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla's China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai. Reuters

Mikey Day as a lawyer, Cecily Strong as a judge, and host Elon Musk as Wario during the "Wario" sketch on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', in May. Getty Images

Mr Musk with Armin Laschet, CDU party federal chairman and prime minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, talk during a tour of the plant of the future foundry of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide, near Berlin, Germany. Getty Images

Elon Musk, Twitter Inc's biggest shareholder, on Saturday suggested a number of changes to the social media company's Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price, banning advertising and giving an option to pay in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Musk, who disclosed a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter days ago, was offered a seat on its board of directors, a move that made some Twitter employees panic over the future of its ability to moderate content.

Twitter Blue, which was launched in June 2021, is Twitter's first subscription service and offers "exclusive access to premium features" on a monthly subscription basis, Twitter says. It is available in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In a Twitter post, the head of electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc suggested that users who sign up for Twitter Blue should pay significantly less than the current $2.99 a month, and should get an authentication checkmark as well as an option to pay in local currency.

"Price should probably be ~$2/month, but paid 12 months upfront & account doesn't get checkmark for 60 days (watch for credit card chargebacks) & suspended with no refund if used for scam/spam," Musk said in a tweet.

"And no ads," Musk suggested. "The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive."

Musk also proposed an option to pay with Dogecoin and asked Twitter users for their views.

Twitter declined to comment on Musk's suggestions.

The company already lets people tip their favourite content creators using Bitcoin. Twitter had said last year that it planned to support authentication for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital assets such as images or videos that exist on a blockchain.

Musk also started a poll on his Twitter account — which has more than 81 million followers — asking whether the firm's San Francisco headquarters should be converted to a homeless shelter as "no one shows up (to work there)". The poll got more than 300,000 votes in an hour, with more than 90 per cent answering yes.