Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, had reportedly delayed access to links to the New York Times, Reuters, and its rival apps and websites, including Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Substack – allegedly targeting companies that have “drawn the ire” of Musk, the Washington Post reported.
The affected websites reportedly took five seconds longer to load as users clicked on links on X, as per tests run by the Washington Post and Reuters on Tuesday. While reports did not mention the precise time when the delays began, the social media platform confirmed that it revoked the slowed access by Tuesday evening. X did not elaborate on the matter, but the delay time was back to zero.
Twitter/X is throttling link clicks to the @nytimes website by causing a 5 second delay during the redirect. pic.twitter.com/HCTN99McNy
— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) August 15, 2023
Washington Post alleged that Musk has been using “X’s technical tools to pursue personal grudges”.
Musk had recently criticised the New York Times for its coverage of South Africa and accused it of “propaganda”. The X owner has also publicly taken on Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg.
Meanwhile, Bluesky was started with help from former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey, who has been critical of Musk’s leadership, while Mastodon hosts ElonJet, a user who tracks Musk’s private jet and was banned on Twitter. Earlier, X marked the links to Mastodon as “unsafe”, with users being restricted from adding the links to their profile.
Newslaundry had earlier reported that Elon Musk’s X had suspended the accounts of a number of journalists who covered Big Tech and had been reporting on the social media platform following his takeover. These included Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, New York Times’s Ryan Mac, Mashable’s Matt Binder and CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, among others.
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