X flagged a news link as 'unsafe,' sparking censorship concerns
What's the story
X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has recently flagged a link to news organization NPR's website as potentially "unsafe."
This warning is typically associated with malicious content such as malware or spam.
However, it has been applied to an NPR news report about a dispute involving a Trump campaign worker and an Arlington National Cemetery employee.
The incident has raised questions about whether X is attempting to suppress this particular news story.
Platform alert
User experience and response to warning
When users attempted to access the NPR story via X, they were met with a message stating, "Warning: this link may be unsafe" followed by the URL.
Instead of redirecting them to the website, the platform advised users to return "back to the previous page."
To proceed with reading the news story, users had to select an option that allowed them to disregard this warning and continue.
Warning rationale
Uncertainty surrounds X's actions
The reason behind X's decision to flag NPR's news site as potentially dangerous remains unclear.
The story in question reported on an Army official's claim that an Arlington National Cemetery employee was "abruptly pushed aside" during a Trump campaign event.
This report followed earlier coverage by NPR of a "physical altercation" at the same event over violations of federal laws prohibiting campaign activities at the cemetery.
User alert
X's warning message to users
The warning message displayed by X stated that the link had been identified as potentially spammy or unsafe, in line with X's URL Policy.
It suggested that such a link could fall into categories including malicious links, spammy links, violent or misleading content, and certain types of content that violate the X Rules.
Platform credibility
NPR's URL change and X's reputation
NPR appears to have altered the URL of the story, although it is unclear whether this was in response to X's action or due to some other issue that may have triggered the warning.
This incident has further complicated X's reputation as a platform for free speech, potentially driving more users toward competitors like Mastodon, Bluesky, Meta's Threads among others.
Correction action
X rectifies 'false positive' marking of link
X has responded to the situation by stating that the link was marked as a "false positive" and has since been corrected.
This is not the first instance of tension between NPR and X. Last year, NPR chose to leave X after Musk labeled it as "state-affiliated media," a term previously used for propaganda outlets like those in Russia and China.