X, formerly known as Twitter, has been reported to be slowing down access to a variety of online competitors as well as organizations Elon Musk has shown public disdain for in the past.
Sites include Meta, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Substack, Reuters, the New York Times and more — all of which have seemingly been targeted using throttling methods that delay loading times of links clicked on within X by as much as five seconds.
As a result of the throttling, t.co, X’s link-shortening service, experienced a slowdown. It’s worth noting that this system permits X to redirect traffic, enabling it to throttle competitors and as a byproduct potentially impact ad revenue.
While bad and potentially alarming news for Musk’s enemies, it would seem that following initial reports of these delays, X has begun to reduce the wait times and the alleged throttling activity. While five seconds might not sound like much, businesses tend to invest a large amount of capital in loading times, as it has become a crucial aspect of traffic retention.
At the time of writing, neither Musk nor any other spokesperson has made any public comment on the matter.
In other tech news, OpenAI is developing an AI-powered content moderation system using GPT-4.
