As multi-entrepreneur Elon Musk gets his feet under the desk at Twitter and sacks execs left, right and centre, he’s floated a new revenue idea – a monthly fee for the prized blue tick. It’s the ‘verified’ badge that gives credibility to high-profile accounts. “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bulldust*. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” Musk said in a tweet. Not onboard is author Stephen King – he thinks instead Twitter “should pay me” to use the platform… Also on the hunt for new customers is Amazon – the mega everything company says Prime members will soon get access to a full music and podcast library at no extra cost. It’s an example that highlights why competition regulators worldwide are getting concerned about big tech’s ability to cross-subsidise services to dominate rivals and stifle innovation from smaller players.

*Umm he used a stronger word than that…