Elon Musk is attempting to change how news links show on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in a move that might weaken news publishers’ ability to attract audiences.
Musk said in a post late Monday that X intends to remove the headline and text from links to news stories shared on the platform, leaving only the primary image.
Fortune first the story on Monday, citing a source who said Musk personally pushed the move.
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Musk’s move is most likely a ploy to persuade users to spend more time on X and subscribe to the subscription service for additional information.
It is unclear how the move will affect advertisers on the network, which Musk claimed had 540 million monthly users in July.
Currently, news links appear as “cards” on users’ timelines, accompanied with an image, source address, and a shortened headline. Such packaging encourages clicks and assists publishers in gaining readers.
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However, because of the shorter links, users may wind up writing some text alongside their messages, and they may eventually contemplate X’s premium service, which permits a single post of up to 25,000 characters.
Musk is positioning X as a more relevant platform for content creators with the modifications. Premium subscribers can now post longer videos, have their postings displayed higher in the feed, and receive a percentage of ad revenues.
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