Elon Musk’s Twitter, formerly known as Twitter X, is set to undergo a major redesign that will remove interaction and engagement buttons from posts on users’ timelines, sparking controversy among users.
Mashable Reports Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is planning to overhaul its user interface by removing the familiar repost, like, and reply buttons from individual posts on users’ timelines. The change, confirmed by X owner Elon Musk, will also remove the engagement counts for these actions from each post.
First revealed by MacRumors researcher Aaron Peris, the redesign aims to streamline the user experience by introducing new ways of interaction. Instead of tapping buttons, users will now need to swipe left or right on a post to like or reply, respectively. For iOS users, firmly touching a post will open a menu with additional options.
Musk defended the change, saying it was “great. Swipe left to like, swipe right to reply.” But initial reaction from users was largely negative, with many questioning the need and usefulness of making such a dramatic change to the platform’s core functionality.
The redesign is the latest in a series of significant changes implemented by Musk since he acquired the company in October 2022. Previous changes have included rebranding the platform from Twitter to X, making most “likes” on the platform private, and temporarily removing headlines from article links shared in posts.
The only metric that will continue to be displayed on Timeline posts will be the number of views, which will be moved to the top right corner of each post. This is consistent with Musk’s previous statement in October 2023, when he expressed his intention to “remove all action buttons, including unnecessary interaction counts, from the main Timeline.”
Critics argue that the change could have a negative impact on user engagement and the platform’s overall usability. The ability to quickly determine the popularity of a post and interact with content through easily accessible buttons has been a long-standing cornerstone of social media platforms, including X/Twitter.
But Musk has said in the past he’s willing to backtrack on unpopular changes: When the removal of article headlines was widely criticized, X reintroduced them, albeit with a slightly redesigned version, less than two months later. In response to concerns about the current redesign, Musk has suggested he could revert the changes if they’re unpopular.
This latest update comes at a time when X is facing increased competition from other social media platforms and is facing increased scrutiny over its content moderation policies and user experience. The removal of the engagement button is a major departure from industry standards and could impact how users interact with content on the platform.
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Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering free speech and online censorship.
