Elon Musk plans to remove headlines from news articles shared on X

In a surprising move, Elon Musk's social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), is set to undergo a significant change in how news links are displayed. Musk announced on August 22 that X will remove the headline and text from news article links, retaining only the lead image. This shift has the potential to disrupt traditional news publishers' ability to attract an audience.

The motive behind this change appears to be twofold. Firstly, Musk aims to encourage users to spend more time on X, possibly by enticing them to explore the platform's subscription service for in-depth information. Secondly, it remains uncertain how this alteration will impact advertisers, considering X boasted 540 million monthly users in July.

Presently, news links on X are presented as "cards" on users' timelines, featuring an image, source address, and a summarized headline. This format is designed to attract clicks and assist publishers in gaining readership. However, with the removal of text, users may opt to include additional information in their posts. Eventually, this could lead users to consider X's premium service, which allows for posts of up to 25,000 characters.

Elon Musk is positioning X as a more appealing platform for content creators with these changes. Premium subscribers benefit from posting longer videos, having their posts displayed prominently, and receiving a share of ad revenue. These developments are sure to reshape the landscape of news sharing and content creation on X.