X still significantly slows down platforms Musk considers competitors

The platform formerly known as Twitter still takes a surprisingly long time to load a few bytes of data, at least if that data leads to a platform that Elon Musk might consider a competitor. An analysis by The market has found that X makes users wait about two and a half seconds to access links from Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and Substack.

If you click on a link on X, you will be redirected through X’s link shortener, t.co. Most sites load in 30 to 40 milliseconds. Meta, Bluesky and Substack platforms take more than 60 times longer. The market has created a tool that allows you to check the loading times of any domain yourself.

Once the analysis was published, X reverted the limitation on some sites. At least the Times and Reuters are not affected by the current slowdown. It is unclear whether X ever stopped limiting competing social platforms; Musk dislikes Meta and Mark Zuckerberg even more than the media.

In 2017, a Google study found that slow loading times can hurt the companies that run the sites. As page load times went from one to three seconds, the likelihood of users abandoning the link increased by 32 percent. Substack said The market: “Writers cannot build sustainable businesses if their connection with their audience depends on untrustworthy platforms that have proven willing to make changes hostile to the people who use them.”

The market spoke with Max von Thun of the Open Markets Institute, which researches antitrust and competition issues. He calls the slowdown “an anti-competitive tactic designed to undercut X’s rivals and keep users on its platform.”

The behavior would likely be illegal for a powerful “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act, a regulation the EU put in place to ensure fair competition. The so-called gatekeepers must comply with all provisions by March 2024. “If proven, then those authorities could fine Twitter and force it to end the practices in question,” he said. The market.