xformerly called Twitterhas begun to show link headlines again that are published on the platform. Elon Musk, owner of the social network since 2022, had deleted this preview just two months ago. The tycoon had said that he wanted to improve the “aesthetics” of the site, but several media outlets and advertisers had complained about the modification.
The headlines returned to the web version of the social network, although with some small changes. They now appear above the images that link to the pages in question, with a smaller size, in the lower left corner. They replace the name of the linked website, which is now on a new line between the link preview and the buttons to interact with the post.
Yes indeed, display is far from ideal. If the link headlines are too long, they are not displayed in full. This means that unless the title is included as separate text within the same post, it will be cut off. For some it will be a minor detail; for others, a sloppy implementation.
Elon Musk had already said in November that he would reverse the change, that forced X (Twitter) users to click or tap the URL card to find out the title of an article. Some thought it was a way to reduce the size of the posts and show more content in the feed. Others speculated that it was a strategy to stop alarmist headlines and combat the clickbait.
The elimination of headlines was also seen as another advance in Elon Musk’s fight with the mainstream media. Since he took control of X (Twitter), the billionaire has suspended journalists from the platform and implemented a controversial label on the profiles of publicly funded media. He even went so far as to restrict traffic to websites managed by companies with which he had publicly fought.
The elimination of headlines did not please X advertisers (Twitter)
Magazine Fortune revealed that Musk had pitched the idea of removing headlines to advertisers, but the plan had not gone down well. And that it was not a good time to annoy those who paid by schedule. But that did not prevent the implementation of the controversial feature.
X (Twitter) faced the flight of its largest advertisers in November, after an investigation revealed that the brands were displayed alongside far-right messages, some openly pro-Nazi. Apple, IBM, Disney and the European Commission were among the advertisers that paused their ads.
The value of The billionaire, true to his style, told “to hell” in an interview the companies that stopped investing in advertising.
Elon Musk bought the social network for about $44 billion. Now, X (Twitter) costs 71.5% less, according to estimates by Fidelity, one of the largest investors in the purchase.
Elon Musk has repeatedly highlighted his goal of reducing dependence on advertising. In October, he announced that he would start charging new users so they can use basic features. It has also tried to make the premium version attractive by offering some extra functions, such as the ability to edit posts or write longer texts. However, until the middle of last year, a little more than 800,000 users had subscribed to X Premium, according to data collected by outside researcher Travis Brown.