Musk’s X delays access to content in Reuters, NY Times, social media rivals

Aug 15 (Reuters) – Social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, has delayed access to links to content on the websites of Reuters and the New York Times, as well as rivals such as Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram, according to a report. from the Washington Post published Tuesday.

Clicking on an X link to one of the affected websites caused a delay of about five seconds before the web page loaded, the Washington Post reported, citing tests it conducted on Tuesday. Reuters also saw a similar delay in the tests it conducted.

By late Tuesday afternoon, X appeared to have cleared the backlog. When contacted for comment, X confirmed that the delay has been removed, but did not elaborate.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in October, has previously lashed out at news organizations and journalists who reported critically on his companies, including Tesla. (TSLA.O) and Space X. Twitter has previously prevented users from posting links to competing social media platforms.

Reuters could not establish the precise moment when X began to delay links to some websites.

A user at Hacker News, a tech forum, posted about the delay on Tuesday, writing that X began delaying links to the New York Times on August 4. That day, Musk criticized the publication’s coverage of South Africa, accusing it of supporting calls for genocide. Reuters has no evidence that the two events are related.

A New York Times spokesman said he has not received an explanation from X about the link delay.

“While we do not know the reason behind the application of this delay, we would be concerned about targeted pressure applied to any news organization for unclear reasons,” the spokesperson said Tuesday.

A Reuters spokesman said: “We are aware of the report in the Washington Post about a delay in opening links to Reuters stories on X. We are investigating the matter.”

Bluesky, a rival of X who has Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on its board, did not respond to a request for comment.

Goal (META.O)owner of Facebook and Instagram, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; Edited by Kenneth Li and Deepa Babington

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