Elon Musk’s X does a U-turn, starts showing headlines in news articles posted on platform

Elon Musk’s X, has finally decided to reverse a bizarre decision made in October 2023. The platform is reintroducing headlines to posts containing links on its platform. The latest update now displays link previews with the article’s headline presented as white text on a black box, overlaid on the feature image.

However, on mobile websites, the headline may be truncated with an ellipsis as screen sizes narrow.

Notably, the website URL has been relocated to a separate line between the link preview and the buttons for reply, repost, and like functions.

The change in the presentation of headlines on link previews is a departure from the previous approach where headlines were hidden within the lead image of the article. This alteration, implemented in October 2023, required users to tap on the URL overlaid on the image to access the headline.

It is essential to mention that X’s Android app continued to display headlines in its original format throughout this period.

The initial decision to remove headlines from link previews was announced by X owner Elon Musk in October 2023, who claimed that it would “greatly improve the esthetics.” The change aimed to alter how news links appeared on the platform, making it more challenging for users to discern the content of the links without tapping on the URL.

Elon Musk, emphasizing the company’s algorithm’s goal to optimize time spent on X, had stated that links received less attention as they led to less time spent on the platform when users clicked away. Musk had also encouraged users to post content directly onto the platform to boost engagement.

However, in November 2023, Musk announced the decision to bring back headlines to links shared on the platform, leading to the recent reversal of the initial change.

This update coincides with X facing another valuation markdown from one of its investors, Fidelity. The mutual fund giant, which invested over $300 million as part of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover in October 2022, now values the social media firm at 71.5 per cent less than at the time of purchase, according to new SEC disclosures reported by Axios.

(With inputs from agencies)