X plans to remove headlines from shared articles for 'improved aesthetics'

X, formerly Twitter, will soon be hiding headlines and descriptions from shared articles in a move to make its interface more aesthetically pleasing. 

Like Facebook, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform currently displays a preview card of articles shared on the website. This consists of the headline, banner photo, and if you're viewing from a desktop, a short summary of the article.

Once the update is implemented, what would only be visible to users are the story's photo and link—nothing else. The photo will then serve as the link to the article, a source told Fortune.

The reason for this, the source said, is that it would "help reduce the pixel space that articles take" and make it possible to fit more articles on their users' screens.

The rumor was confirmed by Musk when the X News Daily account tweeted about it shortly after Fortune's report was published on Aug. 22.

According to X's executive chairman and chief technology officer, the decision to strip off texts from shared articles directly came from him. He said it would "greatly improve the aesthetics."

This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2023

Apart from this, the move is reportedly Musk's way to reduce clickbait and urge publications to publish articles directly on X using its long post feature.

This was recently hinted by Musk when he tweeted, "If you're a journalist who wants more freedom to write and a higher income, then publish directly on this platform!"

There is no information yet on when the changes will take effect on X.