X makes it 1,900 percent more expensive to post links
Posting links to X through custom social media software has become much more expensive. On Monday, X significantly increased the cost of publishing a URL through the X API, which is used by third-party tools to connect to the platform. It now costs $0.20 when a link is published, up from $0.01.
Any changes to make linking more expensive will likely make X even less attractive to publishers than it already is, especially given the widespread suspicion that linking to news articles can reduce a publication’s reach. The issue was raised during a recent argument between Nate Silver and X’s product manager Nikita Bier, who claimed the links were “not deboosted.” But a recent study of Niéman Laboratory analysis of posts from 18 major media outlets found that links “appear to harm news publishers” on X.
The price hike is already affecting a notable X account in the tech world: news aggregator Techmeme. Until Sunday, Techmeme’s articles on X included short headlines summarizing the news and linking to the source. But now the link has been replaced with a message: “Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!” Naturally, this makes Techmeme’s X-rated posts much less useful.
Techmeme now no longer includes links in its tweets because “the cost of posting links using X’s API increased today by 1,900%,” the Techmeme X account wrote Monday. Techmeme also highlighted the Niéman Laboratory study.
Bier responded to Techmeme, saying the problem with the cited study is that Bier also said, in a response to Techmeme founder and CEO Gabe Rivera, that “I’m telling you straight: there is no code that disables links.” Bier offered to “personally pay for the API price hike,” the goal of which was to “reduce search spam attacks.”
“I really doubt that this API price increase will solve X’s spam problem in the long term, but hey, it’s not my choice!” Rivera tells The edge. Rivera also pointed out other places where users can find Techmeme, including its website, RSS feed and newsletter. “And we post links to Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon,” he says.
