X (formerly Twitter) plans to remove headlines from news articles posted on its platform - a move confirmed by the social platform's owner Elon Musk after it was first reported by Fortune earlier today.
This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2023
According to the report, the decision hopes to reduce clickbait and decrease the height of news posts, so more content can fit on a mobile screen.
At the moment, links to news articles posted on X are presented with a Twitter card that shows the header image, headline, and description from its web page.
If these plans push through, only the header image of an article will remain, along with the link to the post.
X Users Criticize the Decision
Several X users have come forward to express their frustrations over the potential changes.
Musk is doing absolutely everything he can to drive journalists off this platform. https://t.co/9CFAZ9EQUK
— Peter Sterne (@petersterne) August 22, 2023
"This isn’t small. This is disastrous for journalism, particularly independent journalism, which means democracy," Vanity Fair's Jeff Sharlet wrote.
It remains unknown when Musk plans to remove headlines from the news, or whether he will retract his statement, just like he did when he first announced that X will only run on dark mode.
Previously, X was also accused of adding a five-second loading delay for links to media publications that Musk dislikes.
Edited by Nikola Djuric
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