Elon Musk Is Going To Drive Journalists Off X By Throttling External Links | Bobby Burack

OutKick touted Elon Musk's purchase of X, then known as Twitter, in 2022 as a win for free speech. And that it remains.

Under its previous leadership, Twitter engaged in politically motivated censorship, a fact revealed by leaked internal documents known as the Twitter Files. Most notably, Twitter suppressed content at the request of the Biden administration — an action many legal scholars argue violated the First Amendment. The company also marked and shadow-banned prominent conservative accounts to blunt their influence.

By contrast, under Musk, X became a critical counterweight to mainstream media narratives heading into the 2024 presidential election. Imagine if voters only knew the Kamala Harris portrayed on NBC or in The New York Times.

For that reason, X is unquestionably better off under Musk than it was before. Free speech must remain a non-negotiable right across all platforms.

That said, X has regressed in other ways. On Saturday, New York Post columnist Miranda Devine questioned Musk's decision to throttle posts containing external links:

"Forever grateful for the Twitter Files. But your throttling of posts with external links is infuriating and ultimately self-defeating. So is the shadow banning that is back with a vengeance," she posted on X.

The New Problem: Suppression of External Links

For background, Elon Musk implemented an algorithm change to suppress the visibility of external links. Specifically, a post including a link to an article or podcast now reaches far fewer users than one without it. Economic analyst Jesse Colombo estimates that including a link can decrease the reach of a post by as much as 94%.

To do so, X introduced the highly-panned, default "For you" tab, which curates posts it wants you to see. By burying external links, users are more likely to keep scrolling – to the benefit of X's advertising partners.

For years, Twitter served as a gateway to the broader media world. For all its faults, there was no better way to connect users to your content than through Twitter. 

Speaking in the first person, nearly every television, radio, or digital show I have appeared on is the result of a host or producer seeing my work on Twitter. I would never have met Clay Travis had he not seen my written work on Twitter. I'm sure many, many other writers and podcast hosts can relate.

Today, even with nearly 1 million followers, columnists like Devine find promoting articles on X maddeningly ineffective.

Over the weekend, I posted a video of ESPN host Monica McNutt appearing unfamiliar with NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders. That video has 1,000 reposts and more than 585,000 views. An hour later, I shared my column on the same subject. It sits at 150,000 views. The discrepancy is staggering – and, as Devine put it, self-defeating.

We can point to several other examples over the past year in which posts without an external link performed far better than posts with links to OutKick.com or the OutKick YouTube channel.

Note: X is no longer an operating communication department to contact for comment. 

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 05: Elon Musk, founder of X Corp., posts a thread on his platform "X" aimed at President Donald Trump reading "Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" on June 05, 2025 in London, England. This feud comes after Elon Musk left Trump's administration on May 30, 2025. (Photo by Ben Montgomery/Getty Images)

Musk’s Short-Sighted Tradeoff

To be clear, Elon Musk owes the media nothing. But his approach risks making X irrelevant to the very people who once gave it cultural weight.

There used to be a saying within media circles, "I would leave Twitter tomorrow if I didn't need it." While hyperbolic, X is approaching a point to which most journalists no longer need it. The upside of promoting content on it is so minimal.

Musk might argue that journalists and podcasters should host their work directly on X. But the financial upside is negligible compared to running a website or podcast feed. As a "scroll" app, users expect to either click a link or consume a post in under 20 seconds. Put simply, industry insiders doubt X will ever serve as a true hosting platform for writers and podcasters.

When Trolls Win, Thinkers Leave

For X to remain the "town square" Musk wants it to be, it will need the top writers, podcasters, and thinkers to continue participating. Yet Musk is giving them little incentive to stay. 

Instead, the algorithm rewards the most shallow, low-value content. The "For you" tab elevates posts with high comment counts and native media, fueling the spread of AI-generated images, disinformation, and ragebait.

There’s a reason so many X "influencers" aren’t particularly insightful: the algorithm doesn’t reward intelligence. It rewards provocation.

At this rate, X risks devolving into a chaotic feed of deepfakes, fake news, and ditzy influencers by the start of the 2028 presidential election.

Free speech notwithstanding, Elon Musk is daring quality journalists to stop promoting their work on X. Eventually, they just might.