Elon Musk may put the entirety of Twitter behind a paywall.

Elon Musk has blabbed on and on about free speech, but if he does this, it's certainly not "free as in beer" speech. https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-paywall-genius-idiot-nazis-tom-fitton-1849756014

Elon Musk Considers Putting All of Twitter Behind Paywall in Latest Genius Idea

The idea comes in the wake of Musk's other brilliant idea: Fire half the staff.

Gizmodo

If you're still a Twitter user, a paywall should offend you since Elon Musk is attempting to monetize content *you* have made—and not compensate you for it.

At least the New York Times' makes ethical sense. They pay their writers.

Personally, I spend $50/month to use the Fediverse.

I'm not against monetization of social media services.

But there's something profoundly icky about a Twitter paywall.

I have no doubt that putting the entirety of Twitter behind a paywall will grow the Fediverse.

But I don't celebrate this. People's entire professional livelihoods depend on Twitter being public.

By the way, activists have been warning for years about Big Social *owning* your content and charging for it.

Most of us didn't listen because we traded the rights over our work for convenience.

If you don't think tweets are work, well they are. Valuable enough that a billionaire paid money to own them.

And now he wants to charge money for access to your work!

@atomicpoet shout out to all those #Twitter users who over the past several years have enriched my life with mental health services (i.e. jokes, wisecracks, witticisms and general mirthfulness) and the occasional useful bit of news- whether that have been in the realm of arts/culture, politics, or what-have-you. #gratitude