Twitter's former top advertisers fled the platform soon after Musk turned it into a sewer of far-right harassment and antisemitic conspiracy theories. Now Musk is threatening remaining advertisers to either pay for a checkmark or spend a minimum of $1,000 a month on advertising.
From an email that Twitter sent to advertisers: "Starting April 21, your @account must have a verified check mark or subscribe to either Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations. Business accounts spending in excess of $1,000 per month already have gold checks or will soon, and they'll continue to enjoy access to advertising without interruption at this time."
As Gizmodo notes, Musk's "bizarre strategy" is unlikely to end well for Mr. Exploding Rockets. "Throwing up an additional barrier to the pool of potential advertisers still willing to spend on Twitter is all but guaranteed to drive marketers away, and a number of advertising professionals on Twitter said as much. The ploy seems likely to cost the company more than it could ever recoup from advertisers willing to spend an extra $8 for the privilege of giving Twitter money. A number of players in the advertising business wrote on Twitter that the move will likely hurt the company's marketing business."
