Elon Musk’s X removes headlines from news story links
Social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, has stopped showing headlines on articles shared on the platform.
Now, X only displays an article’s lead image and a link to the story. Linked articles now appear as an image, and include text in the left-hand corner noting the domain of the link. Users must click on the image if they wish to visit the full article.
The plans for the change were first reported in August when owner Elon Musk confirmed in a post that he thought the change would “greatly improve the esthetics” of posts.
Musk’s platform has been the target of a lot of criticism recently, including accusations by a top European Union official who said that X has “the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts.”
Musk’s latest decision builds on the growing rift between the platform and news organizations. Among his more controversial moves was a decision to upend the site’s verification system.
Under Twitter’s previous leadership, journalists could receive a blue checkmark next to their username that verified they were who they said they were.
Celebrities and other public figures could also receive verification. Musk ended the verification process and Twitter started doling out blue checkmarks without verifying their identity as long as they pay a monthly subscription fee.
Musk has also fired the team responsible for moderating the content flowing across the platform, temporarily suspended accounts of journalists and has appeared to slow down access to links to media sites such as The New York Times.
platform is used by most media organisations and reporters in news sharing and gathering, but traffic has declined from Twitter since the takeover. In recent months, NPR and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) have pulled back on using the site.
The ABC blamed toxic interactions on X, and better engagement on other platforms. In response, Musk accused the organisation of censorship.
In August, X briefly appeared to put a five-second delay on loading links to news sites and rivals to X including Reuters, the New York Times, Instagram and Blue Sky.