UNITED STATES — While X (formerly known as Twitter) users are still reeling from the various changes that X owner Elon Musk has implemented, he has yet again introduced another modification to the social media platform. 

On Thursday (Oct 5), Mr Musk X-ed the display of headlines from tweets with news articles, opting instead for a clean picture for “aesthetics” reasons.

The lead picture used in an article now appears when a link is attached, with no headlines or description like before. Users can click the image to visit the page. 

Here is how a tweet with a news link looks now.

X users perturbed by the change immediately took to X to voice their concerns.

Some are worried that the switch could lead to another wave of misinformation, similar to what happened when Mr Musk introduced paid blue ticks for verified accounts in April.

Several users demonstrated how this new format could be misused, as users are now free to title the link however they like.

X user “Junlper” tweeted a story seemingly suggesting that there is evidence that Mr Musk is a “paedophile”, with a picture of Mr Musk. 

However, if you click on the link, it actually points to an article by American business magazine Fortune, about Mr Musk’s plans to remove headlines from news articles on X.

Another user showed how pictures can be taken out of context by tweeting an article with a photo of a Foxconn facility in Wisconsin, United States, labelled as a “UFO” on the US “White House lawn”.

In September, the European Commission said that X had a higher ratio of misinformation and disinformation than any other social media.

To many, the change is a blow to X’s utility as a news gathering and information sharing platform, as X users will now have less access to original headlines.

X user “danprimack” said that the change destroys “core functionality” for X users.

“This isn’t about politics. It’s about (the) product. And the product is now much, much worse.”

User “SamParkerSenate” explained that the change “ruins the flow (of the platform) and is actually less functional”. 

“Now the feed will show a picture without context — unless we include the context in our message, which will then drown out the real comment we want to make about the headline.”

The maximum tweet length on X is 280 characters, which probably comes up to a mere couple of sentences which can fit into a description.

The changes seem to be felt more starkly for social media managers, with one X user offering condolences to all the social media managers who now have to work around "Elon's latest ingenious plan to make the site less functional”.

User “TheStalwart” predicted that less people would use X for “news discovery and analysis” but rather the platform would become a place “for just jokes, cultural arguments, chasing clout, and posting memes”.

In Singapore, X is the sixth most used social media platform, with over 2.85 million users, according to a 2023 Statista report. Singaporeans mainly use X for trending topics and events that happen locally and globally. 

A silver lining for news sites is that users will now have to click on the link to see what the story is about, said one user.

According to a study by Columbia University in 2016, 59 per cent of links shared on Twitter have never been clicked, including by people who share them.

Some users also questioned Mr Musk's motives, speculating that he may have ulterior motives for the change, such as reducing traffic to news sites and keeping users on the platform longer.

The new format is possibly a broader attempt by Mr Musk to undermine news organisations’ reach on social media platforms, said journalism professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen from Cardiff University, in an interview with American daily, The Washington Post.

Mr Musk has repeatedly pitted X against traditional news media as direct competitors. On Wednesday, Mr Musk posted on the platform, which he bought last year for US$44 billion (S$60.4 billion), that he “almost never reads legacy news anymore” and that the X algorithm is optimised to keep people on it for as long as possible.

There are, however, some users who welcome the change.

“Simple and clean is the way to go though,” a user commented on Mr Musk’s announcement of the new format on X.

Another user said that the change could result in “less clickbaits and more meaningful content”. 

“This would result positively in the long-term.”