X Introduces Browsing Delays on Websites Disapproved by Elon Musk

A recent disclosure by The Washington Post uncovered that the social platform Twitter, now known as X, has enforced a brief five-second pause on the accessibility of specific websites including the New York Times, Reuters, Instagram, and Blue Sky, which is a distinct social networking site. This maneuver is commonly recognized as throttling.

The websites encountering sluggish connections are primarily those seen as competitors to Twitter and other media sources that have faced negative publicity, a stance disapproved by Elon Musk. Trials conducted by The Washington Post indicated that when a user clicked on a link on Twitter redirecting them to another site, a momentary blank screen appeared before loading.

It’s notable that only links originating from t.co, a platform that shortens URLs shared on Twitter, showed signs of being affected by the pause. Nonetheless, the situation seemed to have been rectified by Tuesday afternoon, with links now promptly opening upon clicking.

Musk’s Criticism Towards Specific Media Providers

Elon Musk has been actively voicing his disapproval towards his critics for a while now. In April, Twitter tagged the BBC and NPR as “state-affiliated media,” leading to pushback from these entities and their staff. On April 12, NPR declared their departure from Twitter, and their homepage has remained unchanged ever since.

Historically, Musk has lambasted the New York Times, labeling it as “propaganda” and the “Twitter equivalent of diarrhea.” Presently, the news outlet’s Twitter profile, with 55 million followers, no longer displays the “verified” badge, making it trickier for users to differentiate genuine accounts from fake ones.

During the same month, Twitter commenced labeling connections to Substack, an autonomous content distribution platform, as potentially risky. This action resulted from the introduction of “Substack Notes” by Substack, providing a Twitter-like experience to its cohort of newsletter authors and readers, some of whom are paying subscribers. Substack contended that both Twitter and Notes could coexist harmoniously without competing, instead reinforcing each other.

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