Elon Musk is apparently bringing even more big changes to X, the social media platform once called Twitter.
This time, though, the changes revolve around completely new functionality that the platform could feature, rather than just alterations to verification or content moderation processes.
Last week, Musk announced that users might soon be able to make audio and video calls through X. He said that this could be done without having to use phone numbers.
Musk further announced that the functionality would be available on both Android and iOS mobile devices, as well as on PCs and Mac computers. He didn’t provide any more details about how the new calling system might work, or whether only subscribers would have access to it.
Fox Business reached out to officials from X for further comment, but they didn’t immediately respond to the request.
In a post he made to X on August 31, Musk wrote:
“Video & audio calls coming to X … Works on iOS, Android, Mac & PC … No phone number needed … X is the effective global address book … That set of factors is unique.”
Musk didn’t provide any information on when the functionality could be available to users. He also didn’t say whether users would need to follow each other in order to be able to make the calls to each other.
It’s possible that only Blue subscribers might have access to the video and audio calls, though, if the past is any indication for how Musk might approach new functionality and features on the platform.
Earlier in the year, X rolled out encrypted messaging capability, but that was restricted only to users who pay the $8 monthly subscription cost.
Twitter has experienced significant changes under Musk since he assumed full control of the company and took it private late in 2022.
That includes laying off thousands of employees, switching to a verification system that requires people to pay to subscribe and locking a lot of other features that were once free behind a new paywall.
Musk also announced in recent months that X would remove the “block” feature. The social media platform also could remove headlines from all posts that link out to a news article.
Many of these changes have been met with criticism from users who say that they all harm the overall user experience and ultimately penalize journalists who use the social media platform.
Musk said that removing the headlines and text from any post that links to a news article was done to improve the aesthetics of the site, according to Musk. He also said that making this change could reduce clickbait on the platform.
Yet, Jeff Sharlet, who is a best-selling author and a Dartmouth College journalism professor, thinks the change is more about just looks. As he commented recently on the change:
“This isn’t small. This is disastrous for journalism, particularly independent journalism, which means democracy.”
And Peter Sterne, who works as an editor for City & State NY, said:
“Musk is doing absolutely everything he can to drive journalists off this platform.”
