Twitter to launch ‘Tip Jar’ in-app payments feature | Economic Times

Mumbai | Bengaluru: Twitter Inc. will soon allow its Indian users to make payments through its app, two sources aware of the matter said.Such payments can be made to non-governmental organisations, freelancers, influencers, content creators, journalists, new media professionals, or volunteers and activists trying to mobilise funds.The Twitter Tip Jar feature—developed in collaboration with Bengaluru-based payments processor Razorpay—is currently in the pilot-testing phase in India and is expected to go live soon, the sources said.The upgrade is set to have wide-ranging implications for India’s creator ecosystem, the most prominent of which could be the elevation of Twitter’s status as a monetising platform for social and creative influencers in the country.Other use cases include mobilising donations and funds for relief efforts by NGOs and social workers by directly appealing to users, the sources said.The development comes at a time when the government has increased scrutiny over the governance of social media platforms, with its newly introduced IT Intermediary Guidelines, which are set to kick in from May 26.The feature—already announced in the United States—will appear as an icon on Twitter bios of individuals and organisations who have opened merchant accounts with Razorpay, as per the provisions laid down under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).These include credit risk assessment as well as a Know Your Customer (KYC) diligence of the merchant, which will be undertaken by the payments gateway—Razorpay.Twitter is not expected to charge users for this service. Additionally, it could also collaborate with more payment processors to render the service in India.The flow will be such that users—while opting to make their payments through the ‘Tip Jar’ icon—would be taken to Razorpay’s payments page, where they will have the option to pay via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), debit and credit cards, or netbanking.While individuals could have a collection limit of Rs 1 lakh, this could be much higher for merchants registered as a corporate entity, a source said.“This could solve a problem area for Twitter in India where they have been exploring ways to help its creator base monetise through the platform” another person said.In India, Twitter has been testing the feature for several months with early beta access restricted to Twitter India employees. The feature was announced in the US earlier in May wherein the microblogging platform has tied up with Venmo and PayPal.While most of the integrations have been finalised, a few “nitty gritty” remain to be solved before official launch, a second source said.A Twitter spokesperson did not offer comment but directed ET to a blog post by Senior Product Manager Esther Crawford which explains Twitter’s Tip Jar feature.A spokesperson for Razorpay declined to comment.