Why X penalises news links, according to Elon Musk

Elon Musk makes no secret of it: X is not a social network designed for sharing links. That has consequences for the way you get your news.

If you believe you still decide what appears in your news feeds, you are mistaken. The material displayed is determined by each platform’s algorithm. On X, formerly Twitter, the “For you” feed appears to distribute information in a way that disadvantages posts containing links, according to a recent Nieman Lab analysis. This would put news outlets publishing articles at a disadvantage, even though their business model relies on traffic being sent back to their websites and on paid subscriptions.

Nieman Lab asked the Claude artificial intelligence to examine the 200 most recent posts from 18 accounts. One group included major outlets with paid articles, such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Another covered publishers without paywalls, including Al Jazeera English and Associated Press. Three further accounts shared short-form news without article links: Leading Report, unusual_whales and Globe Eye News.

The findings appear unequivocal: the more links a news outlet shares, the less engagement it receives on X, whether in likes, reposts or replies. For instance, The New York Times, with more than 53 million followers, would be outperformed by Globe Eye News, an account that does not even have one million followers. The issue is that 88% of The New York Times’ posts contain links, whereas Globe Eye News shares none.

X’s algorithm and news links

The fact that X favours formats other than article links is not even a secret. “Our algorithm aims to optimise time spent on X; links therefore do not hold attention as effectively, because users spend less time on the platform if they click elsewhere. The best approach is to publish content as long-form articles on this platform,” Elon Musk advised as early as 2023.

“This analysis shows that most major news outlets, with the exception of Fox News, have not really altered the way they tweet, even though the incentives offered by the platform have changed,” the Nieman Lab analysis also concludes. Unlike other traditional media outlets, Fox News has already adjusted to this algorithm: according to Nieman Lab, only 9% of its posts include links.

Nikita Bier, the social network’s head of product, recently criticised The New York Times for not having “evolved its publishing style to encourage people to subscribe to its newsletters (for example, through threads, etc.)”.

Techmeme’s link-free posting approach

Among the other notable developments on X is Techmeme’s new approach, with the outlet recently stopping the sharing of links in its posts. Rather than including a standard URL, Techmeme now writes: “Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context”. It remains to be seen whether this strategy, which leaves out links as Elon Musk prefers, will prove worthwhile.

What we think

This analysis is noteworthy because X presents itself as a platform for getting news. While other social platforms, including Facebook and Threads, are listed in the App Store’s “Social Networking” category, X appears under “News”. In France, it is also ranked number one in that App Store category.