Social network X (formerly Twitter) introduced a five-second delay when entering some of the sites Elon Musk had previously criticized. In this respect writer The slowdown of The Washington Post was noticed by its journalists.
From X to Facebook (Meta’s owner is recognized and banned as an extremist in Russia), to Instagram (Meta’s owner is recognized and banned in Russia), Threads, Reuters, New to links transition is indicated. York Times, Bluesky, and Substack take about five seconds, while other sites take about a second to open. According to experts, the reason for the delay may be the use of the t.co domain to shorten links in X.
“Traffic is redirected through the domain, allowing X to monitor and in this case restrict activity on the target website, potentially taking traffic and advertising revenue from companies that Musk personally dislikes,” the article says.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and security, said the delays seemed too crazy to be true, even for Twitter. However, he was able to verify the limitation and reproduce the problem. According to him, this is very frustrating, which is why people subconsciously reject a source that opens longer than others.
Representatives of Elon Musk and X did not comment on the situation.
Formerly Elon Musk selected Popular account on X with half a million followers.