Elon Musk is ready to make YouTubers an offer they can’t refuse (but hopefully do).
According to transcripts provided by The Verge, the billionaire, who recently acquired Twitter, proposed changes to the platform’s video function during a staff Q&A on Thursday.
Musk apparently suggested that content creators would be more likely to post videos directly on Twitter if they could post full-length videos, rather than using Twitter as a means to link out to their content on other platforms like YouTube.
“Provided they are able to post their video on Twitter and monetize the video at least to the same degree as on YouTube, then naturally, they would just post their video on Twitter as well,” he said. “But right now, content creators cannot post the length of video that they would like to post and they cannot monetize it, which means they cannot pay the bills.”
Musk then told staffers to approach major YouTubers and ask them to post their content on Twitter for a 10% higher ad rate.
“Let’s just get a bunch of content creators that we think are cool on YouTube and say, ‘Hey, would you consider putting your content on Twitter, and we’ll pay you 10% more than YouTube and see how it goes?’” he said.
If the past few weeks are anything to go off, it’s unlikely YouTube creators will be willing to take a chance on the future of Twitter as a reliable platform, regardless of a bigger payday.