Tell HN: X is opening any tweet link in a webview whether you press it or not
51 comments
·November 4, 2025robot-wrangler
Since we're doing PSAs, isn't it also now just a completely broken platform on mobile for everyone who isn't logged in?
> Something went wrong, but don't fret - let's give it another shot.
This is all I've seen for literally years now. No real error, does not even say to login or install an app, just blames it on my privacy extensions (I don't actually have any) and offers a button to pointlessly try again. No big loss, but surprising! On the one hand, it's the only time big tech isn't engaged in obnoxious harassment, but it's also a conspicuously dumb oversight in the funnel
gethly
Twitter never worked on my on desktop without account since Elon took over. It came down to security settings not allowing 3rd party cookies. If you allow it, it loads up.
teiferer
Always been like that. Twitter, Instagram, ... None of those platforms have usable UX if you're not logged in.
davedx
False. You used to be able to read Twitter fine without being logged in
teiferer
When was that? Already pre-Elon it was terrible.
robot-wrangler
Obviously wrong. The typical user-hostile thing isn't this dumb, you'd see a teaser that's probably vaguely sexual and get some "sign up for the full experience" prodding. Literally any 2-person startup that's a week old would do better than this at being thirsty and awful
Zolomon
This is not true, this change is a recent phenomenon, I believe it came into effect sometime around 2021-2023 (maybe earlier even). I believe it changed when OpenAI showed the value of data.
Before, there was no problem using Instagram or Twitter while not logged in. Now there is a dark pattern that forces you to create an account, or log in.
hnlmorg
People already knew the value of data long before LLMs were popularised and web scraping has been a thing since the very beginnings of the web.
Why you’re describing isn’t a recent phenomenon. Not even remotely.
Facebook has never allowed people read only views to their platform. And Expert Stack Overflow like Quora used the same dark patterns you described too.
mattmanser
Instagram's been a pita to use without a login for years, they've recently got even worse though.
agos
Instagram explicitly tells you need to be logged in. Twitter/X just appears to be broken
agos
remember when part of the commentary was "ha! twitter fired one bajllion people and it's still operating fine". I keep seeing errors, much more than in the flying whale era, just now they appear to be in the frontend.
saagarjha
I’m just happy they got rid of the system web view and replaced it with the one which they can inject their own JavaScript into. Bonus points that it covers the thing I want to read and I can’t turn it off. Truly, a masterpiece of engineering from the guy whose entire schtick was coming up with was to boost engagement from kids.
est
That's precisely what Wechat is doing. Most chinese "mega apps" do this.
Elon absolutely on his track to copy this important feature [1]
The webview works as a traffic faucet. Elon can turn it on or off for every third-party site, you know, for "Internet safety".
My take:
Next step is X.com proprietary APIs inside the Webview, like payment and everything.
The ultimate goal is a "mini-app" framework that use PWA-like techs to run everything based on the Webview and circumvent Appstore.
And last a phone that runs the "mini-app" framework because why not, as an "AI edge node" like Elon recently proposed.
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scuff3d
If there was ever a good reason to stop using Twitter, this is it.
input_sh
I don't think this would even make it into top 10 good reasons to stop using Twitter.
scuff3d
A crazy ass billionaire trying to develop an "everything" app seems like a pretty damn good reason to run the other direction. I wouldn't want anyone controlling an app like that, much less Elon fucking Musk.
ojr
the webview messes up tokens and passwords managers so I don't see this happening. The US is too culturally different to have mega apps. In Asia their supermarkets also have a lot of information in the menu for example.
huflungdung
[dead]
isodev
Who in their right mind would give X/Elon money or even enable photos or contacts access on their phone. At some point is just another money laundering thing for our (least) favourite billionaire.
gip
Totally. Mini apps and mini-app stores are already developing in crypto (Farcaster, World,..) and the approach may well become the primary way to deploy advanced and secure apps going forward.
gcr
Does this mean an attacker can turn any impression into any GET request?
pavelai
It seems like they changed the strategy and enhanced UX. Feels like now there would a lot of worthless traffic in the web
braza
I understand the rationale and I am happy for the authors and I think the distribution will be way better.
As a user I like to get out as soon as I click because I can trace back the link and I can do clipping or bookmark in my browser.
defraudbah
[flagged]
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jacquesm
[flagged]
ares623
Hey, fascist money is still money /s
gnuplustoejam
[flagged]
jacquesm
What's 'reddit tier' about it? As opposed to your contribution it was at least on topic.
gnuplustoejam
Melodramatic + use of profanity generally indicates an appeal to emotion rather than a rational well-thought out statement. A rant about the CEO is not on topic.
stinkbeetle
jacquesm
I completely predicted this comment. Maybe give it five minutes and you'll figure it out. Or not. Hint: when you're a politician, you don't have much choice, no matter what your preferences are. But when you're an ordinary person, like you or me you actually have a choice.
stinkbeetle
Naturally, the comrades at the top are more equal than the rest of us.
haunter
> when you're an ordinary person, like you or me you actually have a choice
To use a dead platform or an actual active one?
I don’t even follow politics on Twitter just video games and some fandoms but it’s actual alive compared to Bluesky where nothing happens basically. Especially true if you follow non-english content.
maplethorpe
It depends. There are other professions that also rely on Twitter for work. Granted it's a shell of its former self, but a better alternative is yet to emerge.
littlestymaar
Until the media starts following other social media, politicians will be kind of forced to stay there, not for the reach on the platform itself, but because in regular medias, tweets are being given the same visibility as a book nowadays.
anildash
There's more than enough critical mass on other platforms that there's no excuse for them to still be on X, and it's a shame they stay there. Journalists would go to (for example) Bluesky if it were the only place they could get AOC dunking on the tycoons that they're obsessed with covering every utterance from.
stinkbeetle
Yes of course they're forced to. I just knew there would be some excuse for fascist billionaires and their supporters.
"To each according to his needs" works out really great when you are the one deciding who needs what.
Lammy
Don't care, I'll go where the funny is. Simply amassing that much money makes one complicit in The System, effectively ceasing to be human and embodying the will of the money itself, so let's not pretend like Jack Dorsey is any different or better.
jacquesm
> so let's not pretend like Jack Dorsey is any different or better.
I wasn't.
blikdak
What bugs me is the sheer number of people, and organisations, who still link to images and video or '1/20' long screeds on twitter, while the next article on their own site is bitching about how bad twatter/owner/politics etc is. Seriously if a site, blog, forum etc you know ever links to twitter then just stop interaction with them, they're lazy mofos need to do their own groundwork.
Just saw the CEO of Substack celebrating traffic from X/Twitter shooting up thinking they stopped suppressing tweets with links[0]. Actually, this traffic is because now any time you open a tweet with a link, the in-app webview loads in the background, and displays when you press the link.
I run an ecom store that gets a lot of its customers from Twitter. I was also shocked to see my traffic double or triple overnight and thought the algorithm had blessed me and my business. Soon realized what was actually happening. Thought other traffic-monitors might appreciate this explanation.
Meanwhile Nikita Bier is pretending they never suppressed tweets with links to begin with, offering the alternative explanation: "a common complaint is that posts with links tend to get lower reach. This is because the web browser covers the post and people forget to Like or Reply. So X doesn't get a clear signal whether the content is any good"[1]. A bit of a rewriting of history since Elon and his mom both tweeted about how it wasn't fair to use his platform to promote other links/platforms, even banning people who shared profiles of other social networks (including Paul Graham for a period). They suppressed all links shortly after.
[0] https://x.com/cjgbest/status/1985464687350485092
[1] https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1979994223224209709