Social media giant Twitter appeared to apply a five-second delay that would slow access to sites – a process known as throttling – including to the New York Times, Reuters, Instagram and Blue Sky, another social network, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The sites with slowed links included competitors to Twitter and news publications that have been on Twitter owner Elon Musk’s bad side due to critical reporting. The Washington Post tested the delays and found that if someone clicked a link on Twitter that would send them to another site, the link would open to a blank screen that lasted for a few seconds.
