16-8-2023 (SAN FRANCISCO) Social media giant X, previously known as Twitter, has come under scrutiny for delaying access to links leading to content on prominent news sources such as Reuters and The New York Times, as well as rival platforms including Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. The Washington Post reported the delay on Tuesday, revealing that clicking on a link to the affected websites resulted in a five-second lag before the webpage loaded. Similar delays were observed in tests conducted by Reuters.
However, by late Tuesday afternoon, X appeared to have resolved the issue, as the delay was no longer present. When approached for comment, X confirmed that the delay had been eliminated but provided no further details.
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who acquired Twitter in October, has a history of publicly criticizing news organizations and journalists who have reported negatively on his companies, such as Tesla and SpaceX. Twitter has also previously restricted users from sharing links to competing social media platforms.
The exact timeline of when X began implementing the link delay remains unclear, according to Reuters.
Earlier on Tuesday, a user on Hacker News, a popular tech forum, posted about the delay and claimed that X started delaying links to The New York Times on August 4. On that day, Musk publicly condemned the publication’s coverage of South Africa and accused it of advocating for genocide. However, Reuters has not found any evidence to suggest a direct correlation between these events.
A spokesperson for The New York Times expressed concern over the link delay and stated that the company has not received an explanation from X regarding the rationale behind it.
“While we are unaware of the reasons behind this time delay, any targeted pressure applied to news organizations without clear justification is a cause for concern,” the spokesperson commented on Tuesday.
Reuters also acknowledged the report by The Washington Post and stated that they are investigating the matter.
Bluesky, a rival platform with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey serving on its board, did not respond to requests for comment.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has not yet provided a response to inquiries on the issue.
