Elon Musk is reportedly slowing traffic from X to websites he has historically disliked, such as rivaling social media sites like Facebook and news sites like New York Times.
Since its sale to Elon Musk in October 2022, the social media site formerly known as Twitter has seen its fair share of falling outs as its now-ex-CEO, Musk, publicly criticized rivaling social media apps and news sites during his acquisition.
This has led to various broadcasters like PBS, NPR, CBC, and more to quit X (formerly Twitter) altogether. And Musk’s public spat with Meta and Mark Zuckerberg has resulted in challenges to an actual cage fight.
Now with Musk’s list of public grievances, X is reportedly throttling traffic from their site to the various websites which Musk has publicly targetted in the past.
The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times, Facebook and other sites owner Elon Musk commonly attacks, a Washington Post analysis found. https://t.co/XzgrOjJQjA
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 15, 2023
According to a report by the Washington Post, when a user clicks a link to a rival site from X, they are made to wait around five seconds before seeing the page.
Social media rivals such as Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Substack were all included in the intentional delay. News organizations such as Reuters and New York Times were also affected. All of which Musk has publicly targeted.
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According to the report, other news sites such as Fox News and social media sites like YouTube and Mastodon have not been affected, taking only a second or less to load.
Elon Musk’s X reportedly delaying traffic to rival social media and news sites
As pointed out by the report, the slight delay may have taken away traffic and ad revenue from businesses that Musk has historically singled out.
However, according to WaPo, hours after they published their report, X appears to have reversed the throttling and they now load in a second or less.
Musk has historically used Twitter’s tools to pursue spats. After his takeover, the Twitter account ElonJet, which tracked private flights of Musk, was banned. And various journalists who reported the banning were subsequently suspended.
Musk has berated the Times in the past as “propaganda” and in April removed the verified tag from their account which has 55 million followers.