"This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly
subscription to pay a higher per article price for when they want to read an
occasional article," the billionaire entrepreneur said on Twitter, adding,
"Should be a major win-win for both media orgs & the public."
He said the plan would begin next month, but provided no
details on exact pricing or what cut Twitter would take.
The announcement came as Musk has been struggling, amid
frequent controversy, to make Twitter profitable.
Media organizations have wrestled for years with how to
formulate subscription plans that pay their operating costs even as readers
have grown accustomed to getting news free on the internet.
The Musk plan raises questions about how exactly he hopes to
make the micro-payment approach work when others have failed.
British journalist James Ball listed several problems with
micro-payment -- an idea, he wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review, that has
"definitely occurred to major publishers across the planet."
Many readers will simply click away when encountering a
paywall, he noted. And publishers "vastly" prefer to sign up
full-time subscribers, which bring far more in ad revenue than the 20 cents or
so from the sale of a single article.
Several people posting on Twitter raised other objections.
The per-article approach, they said, could encourage a flourishing of
"click bait," it might favor big publishers over small ones, and it
is unclear that authors -- not just news groups -- would see any profits.
But some on Twitter reacted positively.
"Great idea," tweeted user Greg Autry. "As a
frequent author in publications like Forbes, Foreign Policy, and Ad Astra I'm
often frustrated when my work ends up behind a paywall that my followers aren't
willing to subscribe to. This is the right solution."
And Carlos Gil, author of a book on marketing, tweeted:
"Finally, a pay-per-view for news that won't make you feel like you're
buying an overpriced stadium beer. Get your articles a la carte and keep your
wallet happy."