The New York Times turns to Twitter to close paywall loophole accounts
With The New York Times set to establish a pay wall, charging readers $15-a-month, it has asked Twitter to help it prevent its users exploit a loophole to gain free content.
The US national newspaper is set to introduce the online pay wall at the end of the month, allowing readers to access up to 20 articles, videos and other pieces of content, before having pay a subscription fee to see any more. However, the payment system will allow users of Twitter or Facebook to view content independent of the pay wall limit, a rule that has been introduced to recognise the power of social media to drive business news.
The New York Times has asked Twitter to close an account called @freeNYTimes which tweets out a link to ever story published by the paper online, allowing users to avoid the paper wall.
A spokesperson for the newspaper, commented: "We have asked Twitter to disable this feed as it is in violation of our trademark."
Other similar accounts have also been reported to Twitter which has yet to act.