Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has once again endorsed X (formerly Twitter) as a reliable source of news while dismissing what he terms “legacy media propaganda.” In a recent post on X, Musk encouraged his followers to turn to the microblogging site for their news, emphasizing its immediacy, world-class subject matter experts, and abundant humor as distinguishing features.
Musk stated, “I don’t read the legacy media propaganda much anymore. It’s a waste of time and a sadness generator.” He continued, “Just get my news from X – much more immediate, has actual world-class subject matter experts and tons of humor. Sooo much better!”
This endorsement follows Musk’s prior announcements and actions aimed at reshaping X’s role as a news and social media platform. In August, he revealed X’s plan to remove the headline and text from links to news articles shared on the platform, retaining only the lead image. Currently, news links on X appear as “cards” in users’ timelines, featuring an image, source address, and an abbreviated headline. Such formatting typically encourages clicks and assists publishers in attracting readers.
The decision to streamline news links aligns with Musk’s overarching strategy of increasing user engagement on X and promoting the adoption of the platform’s subscription service for more comprehensive content. By simplifying links, users might opt to include additional text with their posts, potentially leading them to consider X’s premium service, which allows single posts of up to 25,000 characters.
With these changes, Musk positions X as a more appealing platform for content creators. Premium subscribers on X benefit from several advantages, including the ability to post longer videos, greater visibility for their posts, and a share of ad revenue.
Furthermore, Musk recently hinted at a potential shift toward a fully subscription-based model for X during a discussion focused on artificial intelligence with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 18. Musk suggested that introducing a nominal fee for using the service could substantially increase the effective cost of deploying bots, as bot operators would need to use a new payment method each time they created a new bot.
Musk’s ongoing efforts to reshape X as a news and social media platform reflect his vision of creating a more dynamic and user-focused online space. By emphasizing the advantages of X over what he perceives as traditional media, he seeks to attract users and content creators while promoting the platform’s subscription service. The evolving nature of X, combined with Musk’s innovative approach, continues to reshape the landscape of online communication and news dissemination. As X evolves further, it remains to be seen how users and the media industry respond to these changes and whether Musk’s vision for the platform becomes a dominant force in the digital sphere.
