Users can no longer be charged by Twitter to listen to live Spaces chats. The industry leader in social media claims in a statement that it has “paused” its Ticketed Spaces pilot indefinitely. Twitter claims that the change will allow it to focus on enhancing the “core Spaces experience.” Uncertainty exists over the service’s usage by qualifying hosts.

Three months after announcing the function, the business began testing Ticketed Spaces in the general public in August of last year. It served as a means for authors to hide audio discussions behind a paywall, in essence. An expert in the field may deliver a TED-style talk from their home, and a celebrity could have conversations with their most devoted followers. Notably, Twitter’s potential profit was quite little; it would accept just a 3% cut of sales under $50,000 and only want 20% of sales over that. Even though that cost included Apple and Google payouts, the hosts would still keep the majority of the money.

This is not to imply that Twitter is avoiding Spaces altogether. The company is experimenting with live chat support inside Communities and developing initiatives like daily digests and themed stations. However, the closure of Ticketed Spaces coincides with Clubhouse, the forerunner in social audio and the source of inspiration for Spaces, revising its business plan and cutting workers. It may be more difficult to draw paying customers because the live voice chat industry isn’t as popular as it was in the early stages of the pandemic.

It’s unclear what will occur next. Although Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is unrelated to the cancellation of Ticketed Spaces, the new CEO has promised to make significant changes to the organisation in an effort to turn Twitter into a “town square” and increase its profitability. Paid chats are unlikely to come back, but they may still exist.