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Elon Musk’s Twitter, now rebranded as X, has been in the spotlight recently for deliberately slowing down user access to various news organizations and online competitors. This move seemed targeted at websites that have drawn the ire of none other than the company’s owner, Elon Musk, The Washington Post reported. And not just this, X Pro (Tweetdeck) now falls under subscription plans. The company planned to do this for a long time.
Musk Slows Access To Competing Websites
Users who clicked on links to certain websites, including prominent names like Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Substack, Reuters, and The New York Times, found themselves facing an unexpected delay of about five seconds before being able to view the content. Tests conducted by The Washington Post shed light on this unusual practice.
What’s intriguing is the apparent pattern – all of these delayed websites had previously been singled out by Musk for various reasons, be it ridicule or outright attack. These tactics raised eyebrows, prompting discussions on whether such actions were an attempt to impact these organizations’ traffic and ad revenue.
The delay in accessing these websites was tied to X’s use of the t.co domain, a link-shortening service. Every link posted on the X platform passes through this domain, giving the company the capability to monitor and potentially throttle activity directed at the target website. The implications of this approach, particularly its effect on businesses Musk personally dislikes, came under scrutiny.
Interestingly, X started reversing the throttling on some of the targeted websites shortly after reports about this practice gained traction, Washington Post stated. While some of the delay times were brought back to zero, it remained uncertain whether all the websites that were initially affected had their service fully restored.
Not all websites were affected by this deliberate slowness, though. Links to numerous other websites, including The Washington Post, Fox News, and social networking sites like Mastodon and YouTube, were unaffected, according to The Washington Post’s study, with shortened links getting to their destinations in a second or less.
Elon Musk, who is well known for his passionate views and self-description as a “free speech absolutist,” made no formal comments regarding the situation. Likewise, X, the disputed entity, made no further explanations.
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X Pro (Tweetdeck) Is Now Subscription Basis
X, led by Elon Musk, revealed a subscription plan for X Pro, formerly known as TweetDeck, at the same time as this news broke. This change was made public following X’s announcement that only verified users will have access to TweetDeck. Users who rely on the tool to track numerous lists and platform trends were alarmed by the switch to subscription-based access.
The decision isn’t entirely unexpected because, on July 3, the business announced that TweetDeck would only be available to verified users after 30 days. The social network’s implementation of the new rule was delayed by a few days, much like other timetables Musk mentioned.
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