Billionaire Elon Musk’s X — formerly Twitter — may be restricting access to links from The New York Times on the platform, according to data from NewsWhip shared with Semafor.
There has been a substantial decline in engagement with posts containing links to the NYT on X starting in late July, Semafor reported, citing NewsWhip data. The fall in shares and other forms of engagement on posts on Musk’s platform is sudden, and does not mirror trends from links to other outlets like CNN, The Washington Post and BBC, data from NewsWhip on 300,000 influential X users shows.
“There was a drop off in engagement for NYT compared to the other sites in late July/early August,” NewsWhip spokesperson Benedict Nicholson told Semafor.
Moreover, the NYT did not experience the same engagement plummet on Facebook, according to the NewsWhip data, Semafor reported. (RELATED: ‘Extra Layer Of Protection’: Elon Musk’s X Is Laying The Groundwork To Censor ‘Harmful’ Election Content)
I love their new logo pic.twitter.com/Qv7zbS3Yt7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2023
Musk has previously criticized the NYT for both its coverage and its feed on his platform.
“The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting,” he posted in April. “Also, their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It’s unreadable. They would have far more real followers if they only posted their top articles. Same applies to all publications.”
Musk’s X also suppressed Substack links in April following the newsletter platform’s announcement of launching a competitor to X called Notes, according to ArsTechnica.
Musk has consistently advocated for free speech and has made some significant efforts toward reducing speech restrictions on the platform, but the company has also implemented measures that have advanced censorship under his ownership.
X, the NYT and NewsWhip did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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