X (previously Twitter), which has been making numerous modifications to its algorithms, user interface, and functionality, has now reduced traffic to websites despised by its owner, Elon Musk, by decreasing the pace at which links are accessed. It comprises several news agencies, X competitors such as Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, and others, according to sources cited by TechCrunch.

The platform seems to be fixing this delayed website access on Tuesday. After clicking on links to these websites on X, there was a five-second wait before the web pages began to load. Musk had previously made public criticisms on each of these websites. By blocking traffic to the websites, Musk and X might have been stealing customers and ad income from these businesses.

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When the material doesn't load within a second or two, users may get irritated, which may affect website traffic. According to the report, a brief test revealed that other significant news organisations and websites, including YouTube and Fox News, are unaffected.

When Chrome unexpectedly took 5 seconds to receive 650 bytes of data, the platform's former head of trust and safety wrote on Bluesky that the delays seemed to be "one of those things that seem too crazy to be true, even for Twitter.”

He added that UX research on online performance reveals that even a 1-second delay is enough for consumers to begin context switching, which raises bounce rates and shortens the time spent on the linked site. Even unconsciously, people can become turned off by delays.

Additionally, in response to a thread on Threads that discussed the throttling problem, Meta's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the "thinking face" emoji.

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Meanwhile, the micro-blogging platform seems to be working on the revenue-sharing model and has previously changed a few policies. It now requires 5 million impressions in the last three months, have at least 500 followers and has a Blue verified account.