Helen Zille gives Twitter's R145 monthly subscription the thumbs-up

DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille has given Twitter's $8 (about R145) blue tick subscription the thumbs-up, saying it will turn Twitter into a public town square involving real people and not bot armies. 

Elon Musk this week outlined his plans to make the social media network less dependent on ads and filter out bots, announcing that the app will charge a service fee of $8 a month.

“Twitter's current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullsh*t. Power to the people. Blue for $8/month,” said Musk.

The price will fluctuate depending on “country proportionate to purchasing power parity”.

The blue tick will come with added benefits of priority replies, mentions and search.

“Good news that Elon Musk is going to levy account-holders a monthly fee so that he can confirm that they are real people, and not fake bot accounts,” said Zille.

“That will see the number of Twitter accounts drop by millions. It will also confirm that Elon Musk is committed to turning Twitter into the public town square, involving real people, not digitally manipulated bot armies, adding volume to various nefarious agendas.”

Zille is outspoken and, in the past, has used Twitter to air her views.

She claimed to have been targeted by bot armies for political purposes by the ANC and other leftist interest groups.

“With personal experience of being targeted by bot armies for political purposes by ANC and other leftist interest groups, intent on destroying anything that works in SA, I know how hard it is to stand your ground in the face of the digitally driven tsunami,” said Zille.

“Many institutions and organisations, including the DA, battled to analyse this situation and take a principled stand to oppose this evil. Far too many decent people joined the mobs. I salute Elon Musk for taking this step to restore rational, open debate in cyberspace.”

Musk purchased Twitter for $44bn (about R802bn) and immediately introduced changes at the network. 

He filed as the sole director of the company and announced the departure of several executives.

“The following persons, who were directors of Twitter before the effective time of the merger, are no longer directors of Twitter: Bret Taylor, Parag Agrawal, Omid Kordestani, David Rosenblatt, Martha Lane Fox, Patrick Pichette, Egon Durban, Fei-Fei Li and Mimi Alemayehou,” Musk said in the filing.

He said his role as sole director “is temporary”, without giving further details.