AFPX
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 03:28
The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, slowed down users’ access to a number of news media and competitors. That reports The Washington Post after research. Users who clicked X on links to news stories from The New York Times, Reuters news agency and content from competitors Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky had to wait significantly longer before the pages became visible.
The Washington Post tested how long it took to open the sites with the shortened links X uses (t.co), and it came in about five seconds. The newspaper writes that companies invest millions in making their sites accessible as quickly as possible, because a few seconds of delay can lead to users becoming impatient and giving up.
Reuters tested it independently of the newspaper, and came to the same conclusion. The New York Times also noted the delay. When it became clear that X was throttling internet traffic to the news media and competitors and questions were raised about this, X removed the delay. X confirms that the delay is no longer there, but does not respond to other questions about this.
Woedend op The New York Times
The Washington Post discovered the delays through a discussion on the tech forum Hacker News. The newspaper can’t pinpoint when the delays started, but the Hacker News user in question tells the newspaper that the New York Times links first appear to have been delayed on August 4.
Musk made it that day loud out to The New York Times and called on users to cancel their subscriptions. According to Musk, the newspaper is the “racial genocide defender” of South African politician Julius Malema. The reason was statements by Malema in South Africa, the country where Musk was born. The billionaire has been at odds with the newspaper in the past, which he has called “propaganda” and “diarrhea” in the past.
‘Hostile’
Newsletter platform Substack was also affected by the delays, and reacts with anger. “Substack was created precisely in response to this kind of behavior from social media companies. Writers can’t build a business if connecting with their audience depends on untrustworthy platforms willing to make changes that are hostile to users.”
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of security, is also surprised that X slowed down certain sites. He calls it “one of those things that seems too crazy to be true, even for Twitter”. “Delays are annoying enough to drive people away, even if they aren’t aware of it.”
The Washington Post itself was not affected by the delays. X competitors Mastodon and YouTube, for example, also did not suffer from delayed access for users for X.
2023-08-16 01:28:31
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