X, formerly known as Twitter, has made a significant change to its platform by removing automatically generated headlines from links to external websites, including news articles. The move, introduced by owner Elon Musk, aims to reshape the social media company and reduce the amount of traffic going to other sites.
Under the new format, posts that link to third-party news stories or websites will automatically display the articles’ lead images in preview tiles along with their web domains. However, these previews will lack headlines, depriving readers of valuable context from the publishers about their articles. The Washington Post conducted a review and confirmed that the change also affects shared links to non-news websites. Notably, paid advertisements were not affected and continue to be displayed with headlines.
When asked for comment, X did not promptly respond.
This alteration comes as part of X’s broader effort to discourage users from clicking on external links, including those leading to news sites. Musk, in a recent tweet, explained that their algorithm aims to optimize time spent on X, which means links receive less attention as users spend less time if they click away from the platform.
The removal of headlines from article previews sparked skepticism from Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, a journalism professor at Cardiff University. She believes that this change could be a larger attempt by Musk to undermine news organizations’ reach on the social media platform. By eliminating necessary context, click-through rates are likely to decrease, as readers will have little reason to click on the links. This could also lead to reduced user engagement on X and other news sites, ultimately impacting the company’s bottom line.
Musk has repeatedly positioned traditional news media websites as direct competitors to X. This stands in contrast to the previous model, where links to news sites were accompanied by “verified” badges to enhance trust in their content. The platform removed verification badges from the accounts of certain news sites that refused to pay a monthly fee, a decision that reflected Musk’s longstanding grudge against journalists who have reported critically on him.
In August, The Washington Post discovered that X briefly throttled traffic to third-party news sites, including renowned outlets like The New York Times and Reuters. This move prompted users to wait about five seconds before the pages loaded, potentially reducing traffic and ad revenue for these external sites. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and Substack were also affected. This throttling appeared to target specific sites, as links to other sites loaded significantly faster.
It remains unclear how these latest changes will financially impact news media sites, which rely on ad revenue generated by traffic. According to a study by Oxford University’s Reuters Institute, X is the third most frequently used social media platform in the United States for news, trailing only Facebook and YouTube. However, a YouGov survey revealed that only 14% of U.S. news consumers use Twitter for news, compared to 29% for Facebook and 24% for YouTube.
In addition to the change in article previews, Musk has reversed several policies aimed at curbing the spread of misinformation and disinformation on the platform. This includes lifting bans on thousands of accounts and terminating thousands of contractors responsible for monitoring slurs and threats. Unfortunately, this has resulted in an increase in digital harassment against religious and ethnic minorities worldwide.
This news article was contributed to by Jeremy B. Merrill and Drew Harwell.