Ripple CTO David Schwartz has responded to a potential move by Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, now known as X. According to reports, Musk is considering removing the like and retweet buttons from the timeline.
Xdaily, an X account that reports updates about X, shared a screenshot of Musk's tweet stating that the platform's next step will be the removal of all the action buttons with "their superfluous interaction counts" from the main timeline, with only the view count showing unless the post is tapped. Musk claims this will significantly increase readability.
According to speculation, X's current aim is to replace the engagement buttons (such as likes and reposts) on the main timeline with gestures.
Schwartz remarks on probable reasons why he believes X owner Elon Musk may want to make the move.
"I figured out why Elon wants to get rid of the interaction buttons. He's going to make it impossible to report or reply to 'premium' ads or put community notes on them and doesn't want to make it visibly obvious in your feed or you'll learn to ignore them," the Ripple CTO claimed.
During the week, text lines were removed from all external URL cards, with Musk claiming they were redundant and took up too much vertical space. This drew widespread attention and commentary.
Musk has not been shy about his dreams, such as colonizing Mars: In July, Musk launched a rebranding of Twitter under the name X. His vision was to turn the platform into both a financial hub and a social platform. The anticipated growth of X into a one-stop mobile app follows in the footsteps of Asian super apps like WeChat.