X starts removing preview headlines from posts with article links, showing only the lead image and domain name; Elon Musk mentioned the change in August 2023

The platform formerly known as Twitter now only displays outside sites' featured images on its iPhone app

The Wrap 2023-10-05 Natalie Korach

Context & Ripple Effects

X’s implementation follows Musk’s August proposal to strip headlines from article-link previews, part of a broader reworking of how the service presents itself and content shared through it. The immediate change is limited in the supplied coverage to the iPhone app, where external links now foreground an image and domain rather than an article title.

The move also appears unsettled rather than final: later coverage says X planned to bring preview headlines back, without defining a timetable or final card design. That makes link-card treatment a live product-control lever, not a fixed publishing format.

First-order effects

Publishers and other sites shared on X lose the article headline as an on-card explanation on iPhone; the lead image and domain must now carry the preview’s context.
X reduces the amount of editorial text displayed in its external-link cards, changing the immediate presentation of outbound posts for iPhone users.

Second-order effects

Publishers and social teams will have greater incentive to make the post’s accompanying copy, featured image, and recognizable domain do the work previously done by the preview headline.
Readers may need to rely more on the poster’s framing or open a link to identify its subject, weakening the standardized metadata publishers supply to the platform.

Third-order effects

If X continues to change link-card design unilaterally, publishers’ distribution becomes more dependent on platform-specific presentation choices rather than their own headlines and metadata.
The reported plan to restore headlines suggests external-link presentation may become an iterative control point, with publisher visibility subject to product experimentation rather than a stable social-sharing convention.

The trend: This is one instance of major social platforms exerting tighter control over how third-party publisher content is framed inside their feeds.

Discussion

@fredericl Frederic Lardinois on threads
X, formerly known as Twitter, was never the traffic driver Elon thought it was. Now it'll be even less so. https://www.thewrap.com/...
@crumbler Casey Newton on threads
Did you know that if you stop tweeting you lower your chance of brain poisoning and mind worms by up to 90 percent
@martinsfp @martinsfp on threads
Funny thing about X swapping news relevance for shopping, sport, and Paris Hilton, is those hoping Elon would let them go wild with election disinformation *might* be disappointed at how little impact it makes without all the journos around to amplify it.
@mike_isaac Mike Isaac on threads
never seen someone piss away 42 billion dollars faster — the product instincts of a pet rock https://x.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on threads
Threads head of user acquisition, Elon Musk, rolls out another change designed to let Twitter/X users that he hates their guts and they should try Threads instead.
@dtgeek@mastodon.social Anthony Dean on mastodon
That makes Twitter way less useful (if possible). Unless one types in text with the headline, or articles switch to header images with the headline just to accommodate this...
@dsilverman@mastodon.social Dwight Silverman on mastodon
Elon Musk's X Strips Article Headlines on Shared Links — https://www.thewrap.com/... So far, only in the Xitter mobile app, though I'm still seeing headlines so far. Hasn't come to the desktop yet. — This should further chase off journalists and news publications. …
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@teslaownersSV Traffic to legacy media websites keeps declining, while X rises
@kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x
a source at X/Twitter told me that staff really hate this update source added that it also makes very little sense because leadership wants users to stay on the app but this getting people to leave unintentionally (clicking link thinking its an image)
@jamesrbuk James Ball on x
The algorithm now also seems to quite heavily punish external links, which vastly reduces Twitter's usefulness as a platform. I'm not even sure what Elon *wants* it to be any more.
@briannawu Brianna Wu on x
This is so much better because now I have no idea what I'm reading before clicking on it. https://www.theverge.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
I'm trying to read a news article on this site about the McRib coming back and the link is just one giant photo of a McRib
@charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x
You thought news sites were seeing the number of clickthroughs crater from this site? Just wait.
@xdaily @xdaily on x
NEWS: X is officially removing article headlines on links shared to the platform. Now will just display the image and website. Update is rolling out on mobile now. [image]
@erinkwoo Erin Woo on x
this seems to be happening now on mobile, one day after Elon Musk tweeted that links don't get as much attention. certainly one way to decrease attention to links is make it difficult/impossible to know what a link goes to... [image]
@cubicleapril @cubicleapril on x
@kyliebytes It's a reasonable design choice, but a terrible implementation. Overlay the headline on the imagine, have a link icon, done.
@mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x
the problem with Musk's approach to product development — at least as far as twitter is concerned, i do not follow his other work — is that it feels punitive in nature i.e. “how can i take things away in order to force people to pay for twitter” rather than rewards-focused
@popbase @popbase on x
Twitter/X has officially removed article headlines on links shared to the platform, now just displaying the image and website. [image]
@jaypeters Jay Peters on x
The headline for this article is: “Google Pixel 8 launch event: the 7 biggest announcements.” But thanks to a new change on iOS, I can't see that. https://www.theverge.com/...
@wbm312 Whitney Merrill on x
I'll just click on less things. This is so dumb.
@kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x
i have horrible news: its being rolled out on desktop right now too
@sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x
Removing headline and text preview from links is the silliest design choice It accomplishes nothing other than make it super annoying for both posters & readers to find interesting stuff It accelerates the emerging behavior of just sharing screenshots to get more distribution
@katienotopoulos Katie Notopoulos on x
There's something “lol” in the fact that this Pop Base tweet is how I've seen everyone share this news
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
not that any of this matters really since this website is essentially dead for all the things i used it for
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
lol the last year of twitter is essentially just an experiment in taking a website that revolves around news/information and making it as hostile as possible to the people and organizations that do news gathering
@mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x
@eacamp3 he wants more time spent on twitter and not linked to outside websites and the way he's trying to incentivize that is by breaking everything that makes you leave the app real galaxy brain stuff
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
all my links on here are gonna look like this now. Brb shooting loads of shocked faces [image]
@nikillinit Nikhil Krishnan on x
@MikeIsaac Thumbnail photos for articles gonna start looking like YouTube thumbnails lol
@neerajka Neeraj K Agrawal on x
they got rid of the headline appearing in twitter cards so now everything looks like the author is trying to make a meme [image]
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Elon has been pretty open about the algo heavily prioritizing time spent and deprioritizing links. This seems like the natural product evolution for that approach
@meganmmenchaca Megan Menchaca on x
It's impossible to capture the entirety of a story in a headline or story description, but they're a helpful tool for news outlets to give context for readers. Twitter appears to have removed them entirely on mobile, leaving only the text of the tweet to describe an article. [ima…
@kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x
re, what i scooped in august ( https://fortune.com/...) elon has internally said he wants to reduce the height of tweets, thus allowing more posts to fit within the portion of the timeline that appears on screen i have so many thoughts but also, this tweet from yesterday [image]
@rakeshlobster Rakesh Agrawal on x
More bad news for publishers.
@mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x
i love clicking on a stock Getty image and having no clue what the article is going to be about, great job
@dailychef7 @dailychef7 on x
@cwarzel @MattGertz Coming Soon: for an additional $11 per month, blue subscribers will be able to post custom headlines under any article they link.
@brianstelter Brian Stelter on x
Users will now write tweets differently to incorporate headline + source info
@mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x
instead of “twitter is generally fun to play with as a free user, and as a paid user here's how it can be even more fun” it has been “here are the many ways we will degrade the experience unless you pay us” (extortionate seems to be the right word. i dont think it will work)
@hassankhan @hassankhan on x
Looks like links in ads still have a headline? lol what a dumb fucking website [image]
@buccocapital BuccoCapital Guy on x
What a dumb, user-hostile update Transparent, too, as headlines still show up for ads Embarrassing and desperate attempt to drive revenue [image]
@oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x
We're in an information war and information is losing — because the only people who know we're in one are trying to kill it.
@mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x
media people whose responsibility it is to worry about traffic have written off Twitter at this point now for other media people it's mostly about kicking the muscle-memory addiction that's formed over more than a decade of using it
@oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x
An insane and user-hostile thing to do, so... of course.

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