Announced this summer, the change has been in effect since Wednesday October 4: links and press articles shared on the X platform (formerly Twitter) now only appear in the form of an image, without title or description. This interface change had already been spotted by certain media during a test phase conducted in mid-August. Elon Musk then publicly assumed it: “This came directly from me. The aesthetic [du réseau social] will be greatly improved”, he then wrote.
When a user shares a press article, only the name of the media that published it still appears in the lower left corner of the illustrative image, and clicking on the image allows access to the content.
Elon Musk, who bought the social network last year, seeks to encourage users to spend more time on the platform and, therefore, share less external links. The objective is to stem the fall in advertising revenues, which have fallen by more than half in one year, according to figures obtained by the Reuters news agency.
Hostility towards the media
Elon Musk’s hostile attitude towards the media, several of whom have announced that they are withdrawing from the social network, is also notorious. On October 3, Elon Musk affirmed, for example, that he would not consult “almost never the traditional press”adding: “What’s the point of reading a thousand words about something that was already shared on X several days earlier? » In September, the European Commission revealed a study showing that platform “the highest rate of false information and disinformation in its publications”.
This change in displaying links to press articles occurs, moreover, while X is required to comply with European legislation on neighboring rights: since 2019, the latter has, in fact, required platforms to pay news agencies as well as newspaper and magazine publishers when they reuse their content. However, the elements which are no longer displayed on X are, with the exception of photography, precisely those which determine whether a platform must pay.
This summer, X was summoned before the French courts by Agence France Presse (AFP) and three French press groups, including The worldwho wish to obtain information allowing them to negotiate remuneration for the use of their content, including in the form of extracts.