Elon Musk to hide headlines, text from news articles shared on X to ‘improve the esthetics’

Information articles posted to Elon Musk’s X will now not show headlines or textual content, the billionaire confirmed Tuesday — the latest overhaul to the platform previously often known as Twitter.

Musk determined that solely the lead picture might be seen when a hyperlink to an article is tweeted, which can pressure customers so as to add their very own context.

“That is coming from me immediately,” Musk wrote on X. “Will drastically enhance the esthetics.”

The change is supposed to cut back the vertical peak of posts, which may enable extra content material to look on the display screen, Fortune reported, citing a supply with information of the matter.

Musk additionally reportedly “believes the change will assist curb clickbait” on X.”

“It’s one thing Elon needs. They have been working it by advertisers, who didn’t prefer it, however it’s occurring,” the supply advised Fortune.

An absence of quick context alongside articles may be a play to nudge extra customers or publishers to pay for X’s subscription service, which permits customers to create posts with as much as 25,000 characters. Common customers are restricted to 280 characters per publish.

Presently, information articles posted on X routinely show the story’s picture, its headline, and a few abstract textual content.

Musk didn’t specify when the change will take impact – although it surfaced at some point after he urged journalists to publish their work on X moderately than by a conventional outlet.

“In case you’re a journalist who needs extra freedom to write down and a better revenue, then publish immediately on this platform!”

The potential of extra discord comes as X CEO Linda Yaccarino is scrambling to win again advertisers who fled the platform in response to Musk’s loosened content material moderation practices on the positioning. Musk additionally risked advertiser pushback together with his current choice to rebrand Twitter to X.

Musk has had a contentious relationship with main information shops which have scrutinized his actions lately. Earlier this month, he confronted sharp criticism after the Washington Publish reported that X was throttling traffic to Facebook, The New York Instances, and different publications.

Customers who tried to click on on hyperlinks to tales from the impacted publications have been met with a five-second delay. X appeared to take away the five-second delay after the Washington Publish’s report surfaced.