Elon Musk’s social media platform X has removed headlines from news articles shared by users, which is likely to further strain relations with media groups.
The billionaire has consistently criticized the “legacy media” and argues that X, formerly known as Twitter, is a superior source of information.
However, he stated that the recent change was purely for “aesthetic” reasons, as news and other links now only appear as images without accompanying text.
Musk acquired Twitter last year in a $44 billion deal and subsequently rebranded it as X. He has faced backlash for allowing banned conspiracy theorists and extremists back on the platform, resulting in advertisers pulling out.
He has also banned and then reinstated various journalists from mainstream outlets such as the Washington Post and CNN, and has seemingly delayed posts from accounts including the New York Times.
Some media groups have completely stopped using X.
In early August, AFP and other French news outlets filed a lawsuit against X for copyright infringement.
“I almost never read legacy news anymore,” Musk posted on Tuesday.
“What’s the point of reading 1,000 words about something that was already posted on X several days ago?”
When the changes to links were initially discussed in August, he posted: “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the aesthetics.”
The recent changes seem to have been gradually implemented throughout this week.
Instead of seeing a headline alongside a picture, users now only see a picture with a small watermark.
Some users have already commented that it is now difficult to differentiate between news and other types of information, which may raise concerns about the reliability of the platform.
In September, the European Commission stated that X had a higher ratio of misinformation and disinformation compared to other social media platforms.
Elon Musk
2023-10-06 20:24:03
Article from www.ibtimes.com