Tell HN: X is opening any tweet link in a webview whether you press it or not

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Webview Preloading Change

  • X’s mobile app now opens any tweet’s link inside its own webview and begins loading the target page in the background as soon as you open the tweet, whether or not you tap the link.
  • Some see this as a genuine UX win: pages feel “instant” when tapped, especially for news/blog posts, with the tweet shelving smoothly at the bottom.
  • Others argue preloading is widely avoided for good reasons: it can waste bandwidth, hit paywalled/free-article quotas, and inflate “traffic” metrics to downstream sites.

Metrics, Ads, and “Fake” Traffic

  • Preloading makes it look like X is sending more traffic and improves impression/click numbers for both ads and external links, even when users never actually visit the page.
  • There’s concern this is being used to make X’s relevance and outbound traffic look stronger than it is.
  • Later in the thread, people note Substack’s CEO says that even after correcting for fake views, real traffic from X is substantially up, and an X developer claims a fix for false impressions is shipping.

Security, Privacy, and Webviews

  • Many users dislike in-app webviews in general:
    • They bypass browser ad/content blockers, password managers, and saved sessions.
    • App owners can inject JavaScript, track navigation, and potentially capture credentials.
    • Past examples (e.g., TikTok, Meta) make people assume worst‑case data harvesting.
  • Some note this is structurally similar to an “open redirect” risk: the app is silently causing the user’s device to make requests to arbitrary third-party sites.

General UX and “Dark Pattern” Complaints

  • X is described as increasingly broken for logged-out users and fragile even for logged-in ones (errors, missing threads, quote tweets not loading).
  • The app reportedly treats ad taps as clicks on minimal contact, unlike normal posts, which is seen as intentionally juicing ad CTR.
  • In-app browsers in many apps (X, Instagram, Facebook, Slack/Teams PDF viewers, etc.) are widely criticized as confusing, hard to escape, and worse than real browsers.

Broader Platform & Musk Debates

  • Large portions of the thread spiral into recurring debates:
    • Whether X is now a “Nazi bar” vs. a uniquely “free speech” platform.
    • Pre‑ vs. post‑Musk censorship (Twitter Files, government jawboning, bans of left vs right).
    • Whether X is trying to become a WeChat‑style “everything app” with payments and mini‑apps.
  • Many say they’ve left X over toxicity, ragebait, and engagement farming; others stay for AI/ML communities, real‑time info, and lack of equally effective alternatives (Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, RSS all mentioned, each with tradeoffs).