Elon Musk, the CEO of X (previously known as Twitter), has made an impassioned plea to the platform’s journalists. Musk asked journalists to share their content on the platform in a post uploaded on Monday (August 21), promising more pay and more freedom to write. “If you’re a journalist who wants more freedom to write and a higher income, then publish directly on this platform,” Musk posted on X.
Notably, Musk had previously said that X users may have to shell out extra money to read news articles on the platform. In April, of this year, he said his platform will allow media publishers to charge users to read their articles. “Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per-article basis with one click,” posted Musk. “This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per-article price when they want to read an occasional article. Should be a major win-win for both media org. & the public,” he added.
X is considering a dramatic change in the site
However, not much has happened since the announcement, as Musk and X focus on paying creators for displaying adverts in their work. While Musk makes his appeal, there have been rumors that X is considering a dramatic change in how news stories appear on the site.
According to Forbes, after the modification is implemented, the story headlines and related text will be gone, and postings containing the article link will only display the main image. Individual users and publishers must manually write their own text beside the links, or else the post (tweet) will display merely a picture with no context.
The shift might have significant ramifications because the bulk of publishers rely significantly on the platform to attract visitors to their websites. Notably, the shift is being pushed directly by Musk, according to individuals close to the publication. While Musk claims to be a supporter of free expression, media reports this week stated that X purposefully delayed access to links to other social networking platforms and news websites such as Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and The New York Times.
