It's been a wild ride for X users ever since Elon Musk acquired the company. The tech billionaire has made several changes that the majority of users aren't happy about. Admittedly, not all of them are bad. The problem is that most of them are. Here are some of the changes that people still don't accept.
1. Twitter Becoming X
Elon Musk has always had a fascination with the letter "X." His space exploration company is called SpaceX and his AI company is called xAI. He even named his son X Æ A-12. Adding the letter to the company name is okay, but replacing it with just "X" might not be a good idea.
It's too generic, for one, unlike Twitter which has already been a popular name for years, bringing us to another point. Twitter is an already established brand. By renaming the company X, it's like Musk threw away years of building up the name.
2. X Premium
Before X was still legally called Twitter, the company launched a subscription service called Twitter Blue, which eventually evolved to X Premium. It offers exclusive features such as editing posts, having more characters per post, undoing posts, and more.
However, it's the fact that users now have to pay to be verified and get the blue checkmark. The legacy blue tick used to mean that you were a well-known person in a certain industry. It provided credibility to users who have it. Now, anyone who can pay for the monthly fee can get one.
3. Musk's 'Free Speech' Vision
The tech billionaire is a firm believer that everyone is entitled to post whatever they want to say. During the first few days since Musk implemented a lax moderation system, all hell broke loose within the platform. A lot of users started posting derogatory remarks.
This is among the reasons that advertisers exited the app since they did not want their brand to be affiliated with such content. The company has since created policies to prevent that from happening again, but the damage has been done and some advertisers have not returned.
4. Removing the Block Feature
If you've ever been harassed online, the first thing you want to do is block them. Apparently, the X owner believes that the feature makes no sense since it has the same function as mute. Therefore, Musk plans to delete the feature, except for DMs.
There is a key difference between mute and block. With mute, you will no longer see posts and replies from the user. However, they will still be able to look at your posts and your profile. Blocking is a more effective way to cut someone out as it serves as a two-way muting.
5. Limited Number of Posts You Can View per Day
When Twitter was still Twitter and shortly after Musk acquired it, you could read as many posts as you like without hitting a limit. A new policy implemented by Musk has impeded all users' ability to stay on the app for hours on end.
Since July 2023, verified accounts have been limited to reading 6,000 posts a day. The limit is much lower for unverified accounts at 600 posts a day. If you're new and you haven't verified your account yet, then you'll be limited to 300 posts a day only.
6. Removing Headlines from Websites
News publications post article links on X all the time, but it seems that they will have to include the headline on their posts since it will no longer be automatically included. When an account posts a link, only the lead photo will appear.
The X owner says that the platform's algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don't get as much attention. He added that the best thing is to post content in long form within the site as opposed to redirecting users out of X.
