Elon Musk’s Latest Experiment Causes Mass Confusion on Twitter

On Wednesday, Elon Musk’s platform X (formerly Twitter) underwent a visual overhaul, removing headlines from article links. Coincidentally, on the same day, Reuters published a report revealing significant monthly losses in ad revenue since Musk’s acquisition of the platform last year.

Citing third-party data sources, Reuters reported that X, previously known as Twitter, has experienced year-over-year monthly declines in ad revenue of no less than 55% each month since Musk assumed control in October of the previous year. The report also indicated that ad revenue in August had fallen by 60% compared to the previous year.

Musk has publicly acknowledged the substantial drop in ad revenue, and as per Reuters, X’s Chief Executive, Linda Yaccarino, is expected to hold meetings this week with the bank lenders who provided financing for Musk’s acquisition, in order to provide them with updates on the company’s strategic plans.

Last week, during a tech conference, Yaccarino stated that 90% of X’s top 100 advertisers had resumed advertising on the platform. She also expressed optimism about the company’s potential profitability in the coming year.

In the meantime, users of the X app have noticed a significant alteration in its appearance. Many users can no longer view article headlines on the platform. Instead, they are presented with a brief introductory blurb at the top of the article, along with a clickable image.

Here is an example of news articles from The Verge from before (left) and now (right).

This change seems to be rolling out gradually across different platforms. As of the latest check on Wednesday evening, headlines were absent for many iOS and desktop users, but they appeared to still be visible on the Android app.

Many users have raised concerns about this change, noting that it has led to confusion, as numerous posts now lack the context provided by a headline.

Since acquiring Twitter for $44 billion last year, Musk has taken steps to reduce the prominence of news content on the platform. Additionally, he has proposed that users should focus on crafting longer posts instead of including links as a means of increasing user engagement.