Elon Musk’s ongoing conflicts with perceived adversaries seem to have taken a new turn.
Recent reports suggest that X, formerly known as Twitter, is intentionally causing delays in loading web pages from websites that have been publicly targeted by Musk.
The New York Times, Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, and Substack are among the platforms experiencing this slowdown when accessed through X.
Users on the Hacker News forum were the first to notice the delay, estimated to be around 5 seconds, when attempting to access links to the aforementioned websites from within X. The Washington Post later verified the findings.
Notably, the delay is exclusive to specific high-profile websites that Elon Musk has previously engaged in public feuds with. The issue was reportedly first detected on August 4th, prompting suspicions that the delay was intentionally imposed.
This delay appears to be a continuation of Musk’s stance against these companies. On August 4th, the same day as the reported slowdown, Musk referred to The New York Times as a “racial genocide apologist” due to its coverage of South Africa.
Prior to this, Musk had blocked links to Substack, Mastodon, and Threads, which are now also affected by the delay. He had also publicly criticized The New York Times and revoked its verified status in conjunction with the launch of X Premium, previously known as Twitter Blue.
Threads competition
Musk is currently engaged in a feud with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the launch of Threads, a Twitter competitor.
The situation raises questions about the motive behind the deliberate slowdown. While Musk’s personal grievances seem to be driving the decision, neither X nor Musk himself has provided an official explanation for the delay.
In response to the situation, a spokesperson for The New York Times acknowledged the reports and shared their concerns. The spokesperson stated, “We have not received any explanation from the platform about this move. While we don’t know the rationale behind the application of this time delay, we would be concerned by targeted pressure applied to any news organization for unclear reasons.”
The founders of Substack, including Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi, expressed their disapproval of the slowdown. They emphasized that Substack was created as a response to such behaviors by social media companies, highlighting the importance of writers’ ability to build sustainable businesses without being dependent on platforms that exhibit hostile changes.
