Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, strips headlines from news story links for ‘aesthetics’

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter has removed headlines from news articles shared by users after the site owner said it would make the posts look better. In a move which might further worsen the already souring relations between the social media platform’s relations with media groups.

What is the change?

According to reports the change was first made on Wednesday (Oct 4) for iOS and desktop users. In line with this, links posted on the microblogging platform now appear as the image posted in the article while the text on the bottom left side of the image shows the domain of the link.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Therefore, to access the link the users will now have to click on the image while there is only a slight change to how the images uploaded to the site appear.

ALSO READ |Ukraine taunts Elon Musk after he posts meme mocking Zelensky

Notably, while Musk has long targeted “legacy media” and has previously claimed that X is a better source of information, he said that the latest change will “greatly improve the esthetics.”

Media reports about the news and other links appearing only as images with no text first emerged in August. It was after a report by Forbes that the Tesla CEO said that the change is in the works. “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics,” said Musk.

Move draws criticism

A report by the news agency AFP has noted how the change has been introduced gradually this week where users, instead of seeing a headline along with a picture, now see only an image with a small watermark.

ALSO READ |Elon Musk has an offer for journalists who want to 'earn more' on X

Several users on the microblogging platform have reportedly said that it has become difficult to distinguish between news and other kinds of information.

This has also led many to further raise questions about the trustworthiness of the website after Musk following his $44 billion deal and takeover allowed banned conspiracy theorists and extremists back on the platform.

X’s souring relationship with media

Earlier this week, Musk posted, “I almost never read legacy news anymore.” He added, “What’s the point of reading 1,000 words about something that was already posted on X several days ago?”

Additionally, some media outlets have completely stopped posting on X altogether citing a rise in hate speech and Musk’s behaviour after the takeover, not to mention his reported banning and then eventually reinstating accounts of several journalists.

In August, several media organisations also reported a delay and briefly appeared to put a five-second delay on loading links to news sites to X including Reuters, the New York Times, and so on.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.