Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly Twitter, announced that headlines and subheads on news article links would be removed from the platform.
“This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics,” Musk said.
This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2023
Under the the new change proposed by Elon Musk, when a user posts a URL to a news article on X, it will only populate the featured image and not feature any additional headlines.
However, users will have the option to add their own text to posts, according to Fortune.
A source also told the outlet that Musk was pushing for the change, despite opposition from advertisers.
Meanwhile, French publishers accused X of trying to get around copyright law with the new change that will remove headlines from links shown in the timeline.
EU law on “neighboring rights” gives publishers the right to compensation if their content is shown on social platforms.
UPDATE: French publishers are accusing X of trying to get around copyright law by the new change that will remove headlines from links shown in the timeline.
— X News Daily (@xDaily) August 22, 2023
EU law on "neighboring rights" gives publishers the right to compensation if their content is shown on social platforms. https://t.co/ByPr6zaWXp
The news comes just days after Musk announced that the ‘block’ feature on ‘X’ will be “deleted, except for direct messaging,” causing uproar among users.
“Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature,’ except for DMs,” he said earlier this month.
Some users took to X to push back against the move, citing cases of harassment and freedom to delegate who has access to their content.
Musk added that the “block” feature “makes no sense.”
Blocking is a good way to prevent scammers/bots from replying to future posts in the time they’re waiting to be actioned.
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) August 18, 2023
I also think blocking should be encouraged in place of reporting when people are getting unwanted replies & in cases when there’s no ToS violation.
Wall Street Silver wrote, “There are certain evil people that users just don’t want following them or replying to them. Scammers, cyber stalkers, etc.”.
This is a huge mistake. Block is a critical feature on this app.
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) August 18, 2023
Regretted minutes would skyrocket. There are certain evil people that users just don't want following them or replying to them. Scammers, cyber stalkers, etc.
I suspect many people would abandon X if they can't… pic.twitter.com/tPLMjFHA5y