X/Twitter Removes Headlines From Articles Shared on the Platform, Which Elon Musk Believes Will Enhance ‘Esthetics’
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Here’s another tweak Elon Musk has made to X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, which is bound to aggravate people: The site and its apps no longer display the headline for articles that are shared to X.
Back in August, Musk confirmed the change was in the works, as first reported by Fortune: “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.”
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Musk also has revealed that he’s not a fan of links posted to X — since they drive people off the service — and that the platform’s content algorithm deprioritizes links. In response to someone who shared data purporting to show a steep decline in referrals to news sites from X and Facebook over the last two years, he posted on Oct. 3: “Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don’t get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away.” Musk added, “Best thing is to post content in long form on this platform.”
The change will alter the way media companies and publishers share content to X, since without the headline appearing below the image, a post will lack context unless the headline is included as the text of the post (or unless the headline is included in the image shared with the article). Articles shared to X still link back to the original site, by clicking on the featured image.
Some X users reported that as of Wednesday they were still seeing headlines displayed in articles in their timeline, evidently because they were using older versions of the app.
Meanwhile, Musk has routinely displayed antagonism toward media outlets and championed “citizen journalists” posting text, audio and video directly to the platform. “Citizen journalism breaks the monopoly held by a handful of editors – they naturally don’t like that,” he tweeted in May.
Musk rescinded the New York Times’ verified check mark (citing the publication’s refusal to pay for verified status), then restored it — before removing it again. He banned (then unbanned) journalists whose accounts were suspended because Musk claimed they had “doxxed” him by posting links to an account that tracked his private jet. And after eliminating Twitter’s PR department, he had the media-contact email account set to autoreply with a poop emoji. (An email sent Wednesday to X’s PR mailbox requesting info resulted in an autoreply message saying, “Busy now, please check back later.”)
Among other changes Musk has made since he took over Twitter in October 2022: He discarded the Twitter name and logo in favor of X, his favorite letter of the alphabet; updated the verified check-mark program to allow any paying subscriber to get one (and pulled the blue check-marks from celebrity accounts, before restoring many of them just days later); and oversaw mass layoffs eliminating 80% of the company’s workforce.
Musk also recently said that X is “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system” of “a few dollars or something” because “it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.”
Musk ultimately remains in control of X/Twitter and has said he continues to run the company’s product and technology teams (while also serving as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and overseeing other projects). He hired former NBCUniversal sales boss Linda Yaccarino as CEO, to manage business operations.
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