Leak: Elon Musk said he wants X to be a dating app, too, in an all-hands meeting on the anniversary of his Twitter takeover

• In a video meeting on the anniversary of Musk’s Twitter takeover, there were some new ideas for X.
• One was for the platform to offer dating app features, people present for the call said.
• Such features tie into Musk’s ambition for people to “pay for everything” they do on the platform.

After a year of owning X, Elon Musk is still coming up with novel ideas for the platform.

According to two people who were present for the video call, a company-wide meeting on Thursday, the year anniversary of Musk taking over Twitter, hosted by Musk and his CEO of a few months Linda Yaccarino, was mostly an ad nauseam going over the various product changes to the platform. Because they were not authorized to speak to the press, these individuals requested anonymity. Insider is aware of their identities. Both described the call as “scripted,” but there were some off-kilter comments.

According to those present, Musk attempted to convey excitement for what X will look like over the next year during the call. He insisted that by 2024, X will be a “fully fledged” dating site as well as a digital bank. These details have not previously been reported, though The Verge reported on other aspects of the call, as did Fortune in an email sent to employees just before the call.

According to one of those present, Musk did not go into specifics about how X would become a dating app, whether there was any user demand for such features, or what additional product changes would be made to make it one. However, the concept is consistent with Musk’s push for paid features, as most dating apps today are some form of subscription service.

A request for comment from X was not returned. The automated response from X’s press email line was “Busy now, please check back later.”

Getting more users to provide X with payment and banking information aligns with Musk’s long-held desire for X to provide full payment and banking services to users, as part of his ambitions to create a “everything app” like WeChat, according to one of those present. “He wants people to pay for everything,” said the source. Musk stated during the meeting that X will be able to function as a bank by next year, whether or not users want it to.

“It doesn’t seem to be what users really want,” said the source.

Musk has the ability to be persistent. A fee of $1 per year is now in place for new users in New Zealand and the Philippines for the platform’s most basic feature or posting, as part of the initiative toward payments and banking, the person added. Such a small payment will have little impact on X’s revenue problems, but it may provide X with more financial information from users that can later be plugged into payment features.

X is still in the process of obtaining the necessary licenses in each US state to provide banking or money transfer services. According to an online log, the platform has received licenses in nine states so far, most recently Iowa and Mississippi.

In keeping with the “hype” theme, Musk insisted during the meeting that X’s nascent video features were as good as YouTube and floated another new idea of X video becoming a part of smart TVs, according to one of the people. The Verge reported on that remark. Insider previously reported on Musk’s push for live video at X and his hopes for the platform to become a video-centric “media channel.”

Despite Musk’s efforts during the meeting to bolster X’s future, the company’s remaining employees are skeptical. Several employees submitted questions about the company’s financial situation prior to the meeting, as advertisers and users continue to flee the platform. People also inquired about its current valuation, to which one respondent stated that there has been “zero transparency.” Others questioned whether long-promised equity or stock grants would ever be implemented. According to both people present, none of those questions were addressed during the meeting.

“The story was that committing to Twitter 2.0 will be rewarding,” a previous employee told Insider, “but he’s failed to deliver.”