It looks like Twitter is planning to make a nasty change to TweetDeck, the Twitter version for power users. We may have to start paying for it in the future, as Deck will then become part of Twitter Blue. That’s a subscription that lets you customize Twitter in a variety of ways.
That’s according to data that security researcher Jane Wong discovered. While that data doesn’t explicitly show that TweetDeck will be a paid feature, we do see that you won’t see any ads. That’s usually a sign of things to come: after all, companies earn from presenting ads.
TweetDeck to become paid feature?
By the way, this is not the first time this rumor about TweetDeck appears. In fact, last month Wong already brought out the same news when she discovered a referral page. Bloomberg also wrote about it a year ago. In the meantime, Twitter wants to give Deck a “major overhaul.”
Twitter won’t load because you didn’t give permission.
Twitter is filling in the new @TweetDeck signup page that they’re working on. Two new highlights:
1. A link for “the legacy version of TweetDeck” (even though it might be deprecated at some point in the future)
2. “Ad-free experience” being marketed as the selling point 
https://t.co/XP6sYsTUGM pic.twitter.com/fRc0ujZ7o2
– Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 30, 2022
Currently, it is not entirely clear what Twitter is planning. It may be that TweetDeck will be included in Twitter Blue. After all, that Deck and the subscription are there for power users, so the link is made in a flash. But even then, we’re faced with a strange discrepancy in this matter.
Twitter Blue is not free of ads
The subscription still shows ads. This is even stated in the FAQ of the company (where you can also read that Blue is still not available in the Netherlands). This contradicts the idea that TweetDeck will be part of Twitter Blue. So now we have to wait until Twitter announces its plans.
In a media response, the company says it does not want to announce anything at this time. There is also no launch date known yet for the new design of the TweetDeck, which has been in the works since 2021. However, a lot of things seem to be happening behind the scenes, so the final word on this has not yet been spoken.
