X Delays Access to Links for NY Times, Reuters, Social Media Rivals: Report

Social media firm X, previously generally known as Twitter, delayed entry to hyperlinks to content material on the Reuters and New York Times web sites in addition to rivals like Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram, in response to a Washington Post report on Tuesday.

Clicking a hyperlink on X to one of many affected web sites resulted in a delay of about 5 seconds earlier than the webpage loaded, the Washington Post reported, citing assessments it carried out on Tuesday. Reuters additionally noticed an identical delay within the assessments it ran.

By late Tuesday afternoon, X appeared to have eradicated the delay. When contacted for remark, X confirmed the delay was eliminated however didn’t elaborate.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter in October, has beforehand lashed out at information organizations and journalists who’ve reported critically on his corporations, which embody Tesla and SpaceX. Twitter has beforehand prevented customers from posting hyperlinks to competing social media platforms.

Reuters couldn’t set up the exact time when X started delaying hyperlinks to some web sites.

A consumer on Hacker News, a tech discussion board, posted in regards to the delay earlier on Tuesday and wrote that X started delaying hyperlinks to the New York Times on August 4. On that day, Musk criticized the publication’s protection of South Africa and accused it of supporting requires genocide. Reuters has no proof that the 2 occasions are associated.

A spokesperson for the New York Times stated it has not acquired an evidence from X in regards to the hyperlink delay.

“While we don’t know the rationale behind the application of this time delay, we would be concerned by targeted pressure applied to any news organization for unclear reasons,” the spokesperson stated on Tuesday.

A Reuters spokesperson stated: “We are aware of the report in the Washington Post of a delay in opening links to Reuters stories on X. We are looking into the matter.”

Bluesky, an X rival that has Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on its board, didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. 

© Thomson Reuters 2023