X briefly brought back headlines to link previews — but they’re gone again

X (formerly Twitter) started showing headlines at the bottom of link preview cards again on Tuesday using a small font. However, hours later the company seemingly pulled the new format. Multiple users and publications reported that they could see titles on link cards on the web. They also noted that some titles were cut off because of length limits.

Image Credits: TechCrunch Musk first talked about removing headlines from URL preview cards in August for “improved aesthetics.” In October, the social network implemented the change. Multiple publications had to alter the way they posted stories on X to adapt to headline removal. The team is back together again.

After an intense five days of employee backlash, Microsoft job offers, and discussions following the sudden dismissal of Sam Altman from OpenAI, Greg Brockman took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm he is returning to the AI company and "getting… pic.twitter.com/st1XQZnFoc — TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 22, 2023 In November, Musk said that X would start showing titles again in link cards in the upper part of the image “in an upcoming release” without specifying a timeline.

In an upcoming release, will overlay title in the upper potion of the image of a URL card — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2023 Because there was no official announcement from the company, it is not clear why the Elon Musk owned network pulled the new format that showed headlines. As the layout rolled out on Tuesday showed the title on the bottom part of the image, it could be possible that it might get a makeover to match Musk’s promised version.

These changes were not visible on X’s iOS app. Meanwhile, the Android app still shows link previews in the old style before Musk implemented the headline removal. So people using the Android app can see the headline below the image in the preview card. Fidelity marks down X valuation by 71.5%.