X/Twitter Users Create Fake Headlines After Musk Kills Article Titles
Images via Thor Benson / X and 285092525 © Olena Churilova | Dreamstime.com
On X, formerly Twitter, one post claims Elon Musk has been arrested for criminal mischief and for making terrorist threats “after announcing he would ‘turn this 7/11 into a 9/11.’” Another says human remains were found in a home he’d sold in 2022. A third, featuring a shirtless Musk at the beach, is accompanied by the line, “Rare Bipedal Beluga Whale Can’t Handle His Liquor.”
While all of them were linked to real news stories, the “headlines” displayed in the app were made up by users in response to the platform removing article headlines from posts directing to third-party publishers, a change personally overseen by X’s owner himself, on Thursday.
The new link previews include just the thumbnails of the articles along with the web domain names, making it challenging for users to decipher the true context of these stories.
Musk asserted that ditching headlines would “greatly improve the aesthetics” of the site. Per Forbes, he also saw legacy publications as competition, explaining, “Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don’t get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away.”
But by obliterating the first layer of understanding that news stories provide, it gives others a chance to fill in the blanks with false context. X users have pointed out the potential dangers of removing headlines in the age of misinformation by falsifying their own, targeting especially articles involving Musk.
Elon Musk has ushered in the golden age of clickbait pic.twitter.com/EfTp0URg4J
— The Serfs (@theserfstv) October 5, 2023
One post joking that Musk had backed President Joe Biden for reelection was appended with a box of user-added context, reading, “This tweet is intended as satire to showcase the flaws of this new Twitter implementation.”
Wow pic.twitter.com/eLwd5v3lo4
— Thor Benson (@thor_benson) October 5, 2023
The episode is reminiscent of the earlier days of Musk’s Twitter takeover, when impersonations on the site were rampant after the company introduced paid verification checkmarks.
Since you can't see the headline, Elon Musk was arrested after being found in the street in a ketamine induced fugue state. https://t.co/Ex90mXSTit
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) October 5, 2023
Headlines still appear in X posts embedded on third-party sites.
Elon Musk loses penis in horrific Tesla door-slamming incident: https://t.co/4z3key4Okh
— Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) October 5, 2023
[via Forbes and The Washington Post, images via various sources]
