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The smartest, funniest man in the room is making smart, funny decisions again. For reasons that only a very stable genius can explain, The Artist Formerly Known As Twitter has stopped showing headlines for links that get posted on people’s timelines. Only the embedded picture shows up. Why? Because Elon Musk thinks it would make posts “look better.” Elno’s other great ideas include slowing down links to sites that he doesn’t like and possibly putting Twitter X behind a paywall and charging users a monthly fee. Everything’s going great, guys. Nothing to see here!
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has stopped showing headlines for links posted on the site, after site owner Elon Musk said it would make posts look better.
Links posted on Twitter now appear as the image included in the article, as well as text in the left-hand corner of the image noting the domain of the link. If users want to visit the page, they must click the image, but it only appears slightly different to how images uploaded to the site appear.
The change was made on Wednesday for iOS and desktop users. The new appearance appeared not to apply to advertisement links.
The move to remove headlines had been in the works since August. Following Forbes reports about the planned change, Musk tweeted: “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.”
X has become increasingly hostile for news organisations to use since Musk took over nearly one year ago. While never a major source of traffic for many news sites, the platform is used by most media organisations and reporters in news sharing and gathering, but reports suggest traffic has declined from Twitter since the takeover. In recent months, NPR and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) have pulled back on using the site.
It’s all just so stupid. This change makes it even easier to spread misinformation, which is probably the entire point. But that goes two ways. As usual, Twitter users are trolling Elon, posting links with his picture on them and creating their own headlines to things like, “Elon Musk supports Joe Biden’s bid for re-election.” This could make for a very funny weekend on Space Karen’s platform.
I don’t exactly know what Elon’s end game is here, but I’m of the opinion that he’s intentionally trying to tank Twitter. I mean, he’s a complete jackass, but at this point, it feels like his entire shtick is to own the libs either for his own amusement or because those are his marching orders. The platform is estimated to be worth somewhere between $4 and $8 billion now, which is, oh, around $36 to $40 billion less than he paid for it. It’s said that some of Elno’s investors aren’t happy at all, so they may have had enough of his shenanigans. On Thursday, CEO-in-name-only Linda Yaccarino met with the banks that financed $13 out of that $44 billion to discuss plans to increase revenue. I’m no business expert, but taking Apartheid Clyde out of the equation seems like it would be a great place to start.
Twitter/X has officially removed article headlines on links shared to the platform, now just displaying the image and website. pic.twitter.com/fNQSfAy70d
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 4, 2023
No headlines can be fun 😉 https://t.co/b3vVFgcooC
— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) October 5, 2023
price of twitter acquisition: $44 billion
current value: $8 billion (est)-reuters
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 5, 2023
He’s also acting more and more like a right-wing conspiracy nut/Rusbot.
The last few days there is also a tweet going viral in the weirdest way.
It’s a tweet calling him out for being pro-Russia. Lots of people have reported that their likes on the tweet keep disappearing. So, people are focusing even more on the tweet, liking and seeing it disappear again.
Don’t think that was what he intended, but lol 😀
EDIT: here is the tweet
https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1674360288445964288
Yes he is acting like a right wing nut job and I agree he is purposefully trying to tank Twitter but can’t figure out why. Maybe we (Twitter users) are the subjects in an experiment of some sort. But hell if I pay him to use his platform. Other platforms will pop up. It’s only a matter of time. One thing is for sure he is not as savvy as people hype him up to be – kinda like Trumps financial mega $$$$
Yes, agreed.
People are also running back to Tumblr.
Seems he’s really trying to make Twitter unattractive for some reason.
Twitter was (at one time) a pretty good source for real-time information on political protests. It was also a viable way to disseminate information that authorities were not eager to have in the public sphere (videos of police brutality). Making Twitter unusable for those purposes was the Elno’s primary objective. At that, he has succeeded beyond all expectations. His paymasters don’t care about the loss of value. They care about the loss of the tool – which was what people like MBS and Putin really wanted.
I wish we could put an X over a pic of Musk instead. He reminds me of a guy who accidentally makes one slight joke a decade and will spend the rest of the year repeating it. It doesn’t help that he was born looking like he wasn’t quite…finished.
He needs to lose all his non competitive federal contracts immediately. He is a national security threat regardless of whether he is intentionally causing harm or just completely out of control and acting irrationally. He is successful because of government subsidies.
He’s clearly mentally instable, a Russian plant, has “earned” his money by exploiting others (and I’m not referring to Agent Orange here), and he’s being paid to do do. I just can’t with this guy.
Why is there no “unhorrible” super rich, bored, multi billionaire out there who needs a new hobby and feels the need to save us from (h)Elno via a hostile takeover?
Because unhorrible people don’t become billionaires
Because the whole point of social media is to collect your private information and manipulate your thinking in order to sell you things, under the pretence of offering a free service that will simplify your life.
Tbh I don’t think his outward ‘politics’ matters. That’s fake for a lot. I do think it’s mostly notable that he’s deliberately tanked Twitter and he influences elections etc. Way more than that but it’s a start. He’s a criminal, paid and bought by Russians. That won’t ever be investigated
Given Linda’s performance at Code Conference, I don’t expect that meeting with the banks went particularly well. She is clearly just figurehead with little knowledge of the actual goings on of the company, nor the basic curiosity to keep up with Twitter in the news.
Even if Elon didn’t tell her directly about wanting to put Twitter behind a paywall, it was in the news for days. Had she any idea about his comments, she could have asked him. Absolutely mind boggling that his comments were news to her during that interview.
He never wanted to buy Twitter in the first place. And spent a good chunk of time trying to get out of having to do so. He is even suing his lawyers for essentially MAKING him purchase it. He is intentionally tanking the platform because its the only way he will be able to get out of owning it. He overpaid for it so a profit from attempting to sell it is a non-starter. The company is now valued at about 4bil – which even THAT is a high valuation at this point. He paid 44bil for it. The only thing he can do – which is what all of these rich a$$holes do – is run the company into the ground and then cry that it’s not profitable and file for bankruptcy. He will protect his personal assets AND get out of paying back all the money he borrowed to buy it in the first place.
And have a giant “loss” to write off his income against for decades and avoid paying any federal income taxes forever, straight out of the Trump playbook, right?
That’s just what I was thinking, nice way of getting out of paying taxes! Elonna is a tricky cookie.
Yeah this genius changed the name and immediately forfeited billions in name brand recognition. He’s nowhere near as smart as his fanboys think.
Well I got permanently kicked of the X, presumably for my takedown of KCIII, I’m permanently on “read only” mode, I can’t see my Squaddies posts, only advertising and kitteh stories (at least I have the kitties), but yet they want me to subscribe. If I subscribe will my drummed up crime and punishment be forgiven? Screw dat!
The drop in estimated worth is insane surely tanking the whole thing is the strategy he was able to come up with.
Elon is not some kind of financial business mastermind. However, he is a vicious, evil asshole. Giving billions of dollars to a person like that just fuels their ego and convinces them they are in the right.
As for Twitter, he is running it into the ground because he genuinely believes every thought he has is a genius thought. Also, his level of pettiness cannot be measured and he loves nothing more than “getting revenge” on anyone who 1. disagrees with him, and 2. on anyone who thinks differently than him.
Also, I have no doubt there are powerful people whispering in his ear and helping manipulate his ego into thinking these things are a good idea. Those people want Twitter destroyed because it was a weapon of mass education and information. So much of modern media is trash and manipulative but the masses on Twitter who revealed the lies and manipulations of media and government officials (at all levels) along with creating entire communities based on shared humanity helped open eyes and minds and hearts. So much of the social changes that have gone on in the past 15 years are because of the shared information on Twitter.
A tool that powerful, which strengthens societies bond of humanity is the antithesis of white male supremacy. Anything that can diminish/destroy white male supremacy must be destroyed. The people who loaned Elon the money to buy Twitter knew he could easily be manipulated into destroying it and he would take the blame while they continue on their quest in the shadows.
So Elon doing all of this f*ckery is exactly what the money lenders wanted. If it wasn’t he would have been removed and replaced by the shareholders and lenders (like what happened when he was booted at Paypal).
truer words . . .
adding to his being evil, Twitter has also rolled out new ad format that not only doesn’t allow to report or block it, but also doesn’t disclose that it’s an ad or who the advertiser is. They’re made to look like organic posts so you don’t even know it’s a paid ad
https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-new-clickbait-ad-format
Wow. I wonder if that is legal.
If you engage with Twitter then you endorse Musk’s behavior. Every click feeds the beast.
Yep, agreed. Deleted it a couple of months ago after 12 years.
The SEC is again trying to get Musk in for questioning about his purchase of Twitter. He blew them off last time, so I think they’ll go to a Judge or an order this time.
I’m on Spoutible. Christopher Bouzy of Bot Sentinel is behind this and it’s an ALL inclusive social media HAPPY place. No disinformation, no harassment, no bots. You determine what media you want to see (Fox isn’t even a choice). It’s informative and fun.
Bouzy viciously harassed Courtney Milan (a romance novelist) when she asked questions about some of Spoutible’s Terms of Service. He literally tried to use her history as a sexual harassment victim against her and accused her of being a white racist when she’s actually a woman of color (biracial). Also, other people (all women) have reported his harassing behavior.
Bouzy isn’t the good guy he pretends to be.
He’s going to make it a private rt wing website. Right wing gifting has become popular