Elon Musk’s X is throttling traffic to websites he dislikes
www.washingtonpost.com
The delayed websites include X’s online rivals Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Substack as well as Reuters and the New York Times, all of which Musk previously has singled out for ridicule or attack.

Elon Musk’s X is throttling traffic to news and websites he dislikes | The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times,…::undefined

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    23•2 years ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The delayed websites included X’s online rivals Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Substack, as well as the Reuters wire service and the Times.

    On Tuesday afternoon, hours after this story was first published, X began reversing the throttling on some of the sites, dropping the delay times back to zero.

    Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesman for the Times, said in a statement that the news outlet has “made similar observations of our own” about the systemic delays and “not received any explanation from the platform about this move.”

    “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,” he said.

    “Writers cannot build sustainable businesses if their connection to their audience depends on unreliable platforms that have proven they are willing to make changes that are hostile to the people who use them.”

    Links to Facebook, Instagram and the new microblogging service Threads were all throttled; all three are owned by Meta, whose founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg has been locked in an ongoing online feud with Musk over not-yet-existent plans for a mixed-martial-arts fight.

    I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • HikuNoirEnglish
    21•2 years ago

    Wow! The genius of the man. It walks the fine line between infantile and stupid.

  • @aragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41•2 years ago

    I wonder if anyone’s image has crashed from such highs to such pathetic lows. At the end of the day, it was all PR but he still had the admiration of many people just a few years back i.e before the Thai submarine fiasco. Now most people consider him a petulant child man with a massive fortune. The only good outcome of this fall has been a clear understanding that earning wealth is purely based on luck. It doesnt matter if it is millions or billions ,nothing comes due to our own genius. It is a combination of factors that result in wealth but it is mostly determined at your birth. May be this episode will humble others who might have taken a similar path due to their inexplicable wealth.

  • FortyEnglish
    10•2 years ago

    Petulant melon husk at it again.

  • @avater@lemmy.worldEnglish
    62•2 years ago

    I’m sorry but which developer implements such dark patterns? I mean you have something called work ethic, you don’t implement shit like that…

    • @essteeyou@lemmy.worldEnglish
      105•2 years ago

      If you’re on a work visa and you don’t want to get deported then you do what daddy Elon tells you.

          • @avater@lemmy.worldEnglish
            -15•2 years ago

            I was in this position, no other job in sight, no safety net, nothing.

            I worked as an lead designer for a big german company and was asked by the head of ux/ui to design an interface to actively trick users and I refused to do it and came up with an alternative. I was yelled at for not doing my job and asked again to do “my fucking work”. I went to my laptop, printet out my resignation papers, handed it over to the ceo and left the building…sure the next 1 and half months were pretty fucky but that’s another story.

            In that same week a I had a job interview with another company, went there for a get to know day and happily signed my contract a week later and I have been with this company for 4 years now, moved my way up to head of design and I’m just happy.

  • @alienanimals@lemmy.worldEnglish
    28•2 years ago

    There’s Elon Musk spam on this community every day. Can we stop doing the billionaire’s PR for him?

    Downvote this garbage.

    • dubEnglish
      20•2 years ago

      While I agree, it’s good to know these ridiculous actions he takes. It’s not like it’s positive for him

      • @alienanimals@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7•2 years ago

        Musk operates on the “There is no such thing as bad publicity model”. He doesn’t care if the news is bad or good so long as his name / businesses are in the 24-hour news cycle. It’s stupid, but he gets idiots to bring him more attention.

        • @HellAwaits@lemm.eeEnglish
          -3•2 years ago

          He doesn’t care, yet he’s suing an organization for reporting news on content on his website.

          I think you need to check your facts.

    • @Hazdaz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      24•2 years ago

      If 1/2 the clowns that endlessly post anti-Twitter/anti-Musk stories would just STOP USING TWITTER, the entire site would collapse. Sick of seeing that asswipe’s name, but I’m not on his goddamn platform. I don’t drive his shitty cars. I won’t fawn over every goddamn thing he does.

      How much of an absolute douche do you have to be to make Zuck look good in comparison?!

      You claim you hate the guy, but the fact that you have a Twitter account proves that was a lie.

  • @markr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    28•2 years ago

    This is a person who’s mission, every day, is how to make the world shittier for everyone. He asks himself, over his breakfast of Cap’n Crunch and a juice box, ‘how can I fuck things up today?’