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Elon Musk’s X is throttling traffic to websites he dislikes

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/08/15/twitter-x-links-delayed/

The delayed websites include X’s online rivals Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Substack as well as Reuters and the New York Times, all of which Musk previously has singled out for ridicule or attack.

Elon Musk’s X is throttling traffic to websites he dislikes

5 comments

ArugulaZ

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Scum. I think he greatly overestimates the popularity of his site now that he's in charge. TWITTER was hugely popular. X, not so much.

ch1cken

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etceterar

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It is quite the interesting coincidence that both Twitter and Reddit have driven away scores of intelligent, critical users in the year before an election.

ryan

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Users who clicked a link on Musk’s website, now called X, for one of the targeted websites were made to wait about five seconds before seeing the page

yeah haha that will sure drive traffic, making people wait longer to see your content, people definitely won't get frustrated and click off

At this point I can only assume Musk's intention is to destroy the website. I mean, every decision here has been so bafflingly terrible that I can't imagine any single person to be this inept. We could have pulled any person on the globe out of a hat to be the new owner of Twitter and, while they may not have done a good job, it certainly wouldn't have been as bad as this.

Haus

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Maybe everybody who cares already knows this. I had a good reason to check a singer's twitter yesterday. Clicked to it from google, and just got a blank screen with a stylized "X" on it. Good work, Elon.

btaf45

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The company formerly known as Twitter on Tuesday slowed the speed with which users could access links to the New York Times, Facebook and other news organizations and online competitors, a move that appeared targeted at companies that have drawn the ire of owner Elon Musk.

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Users who clicked a link on Musk’s website, now called X, for one of the targeted websites were made to wait about five seconds before seeing the page, according to tests conducted Tuesday by The Washington Post.

The delayed websites included X’s online rivals Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Substack, as well as the Reuters wire service and the Times. All of them have previously been singled out by Musk for ridicule or attack.

The delays also affected X’s biggest rivals in social media. Links to Facebook, Instagram and the new microblogging service Threads were all throttled; all three are owned by Meta, whose founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg has been locked in an ongoing online feud with Musk over not-yet-existent plans for a mixed-martial-arts fight.