Social media firm X, previously referred to as Twitter, delayed entry to hyperlinks to content material on the Reuters and New York Occasions web sites in addition to rivals like Bluesky, Fb, and Instagram, in response to a Washington Publish 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 Publish reported, citing exams it performed on Tuesday. Reuters additionally noticed an identical delay within the exams 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 Information, a tech discussion board, posted concerning the delay earlier on Tuesday and wrote that X started delaying hyperlinks to the New York Occasions 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 Occasions stated it has not acquired a proof from X concerning the hyperlink delay.
“Whereas we do not know the rationale behind the applying of this time delay, we might be involved by focused stress utilized to any information group for unclear causes,” the spokesperson stated on Tuesday.
A Reuters spokesperson stated: “We’re conscious of the report within the Washington Publish of a delay in opening hyperlinks to Reuters tales on X. We’re trying 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 Fb and Instagram, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
