X reportedly delayed traffic to websites criticized by Elon Musk

X is making the headlines once again. The rebranded version of Twitter keeps bringing new updates and features regularly. But that's not all – X's owner, Elon Musk, is also making waves with his online feud against Meta's owner, Marc Zuckerberg, and the cage fight between them, which might actually never happen.

The Washington Post has revealed that X had been reportedly slowing down traffic to websites that Elon Musk isn't fond of. This includes big names like Facebook, Instagram, Thread, The New York Times, and Reuters. Users who clicked on links from X to these targeted websites had to wait about five seconds before the page loaded. This delay initially caught the attention of users on the Hacker News forum and was tested by The Washington Post.

All these websites have previously faced public criticism from Musk. By supposedly slowing down traffic to these sites, Musk and X might have been snatching away their visitors and ad revenue. In our fast-paced lives, we tend to get impatient if a page takes more than a second or two to load, often moving on to the next thing.

Similar to other platforms, X uses the t.co domain – a link-shortening service – to gather information about users who click on shared links. This domain reroutes traffic, allowing X to monitor or, in this case, supposedly limit activity to the targeted site.

When a link, such as one from The New York Times, takes significantly longer to load through X's link-shortener than other sites using the same service, it raises suspicions. Cybersecurity researcher Will Dormann told CNN that these discrepancies indicate some sort of trickery is afoot.

This isn't the first time Musk has let his personal grudges impact the social network. He had previously blocked links to Threads and other rivals. Earlier this year, he labeled The New York Times as "propaganda" and revoked the news organization's verification checkmark.

As of the time of publishing this article, things seem to have returned to normal, and links to these websites are functioning as they should be.