TWITTER ACQUIRES ADS-FREE NEWS-TYPE SERVICE

Twitter recently made tech news headlines in acquiring a “Scroll,” a subscription-based newsletter-type service that removes advertisements from affiliate news sites.

Brought to light in a blog post by Scroll CEO Tony Haile, the acquisition is one of many ‘acquisition sprees’ that’s been done recently by the firm. The move appears to be part of Twitter’s plans to come up with an array of in-house subscription-based offerings that consolidates the services of various internet-of-things players.

Scroll is a type of service that works with browser extensions or third-party cookies that instruct websites not to run advertisement codes. It is not exactly a type of ad-blocker, as it works by sending portions of a subscriber’s payments to websites that are included in its list of affiliate sites.

At times referred to as an ‘ingenious hack’, the service no longer accepts new sign ups since the acquisition’s announcement. There has been no indication that there’s going to be changes for current Scroll subscribers in the foreseeable future.

Industry analysts and tech journalists see the move as Twitter’s bid to compete against subscription-based news services like Apple News. Though there are differences in the dynamic between Scroll and subscription-based news services, a number of tech pundits are convinced that its acquisition spree is part of a bigger move to offer different subscription-based services within the platform.