Twitter, rebranded as X, is now officially turning Tweetdeck into a paid service and placing it behind a paywall, after slowing down access to rival social media platforms including Meta’s Threads and Facebook. Tweetdeck, which was also rebranded recently to “X Pro”, now requires a Blue subscription to access it. The latest change follows Twitter’s announcement in July that users must be “verified” to access TweetDeck. Non-subscribing users visiting Tweetdeck’s website are now being redirected to a page promoting signup to Twitter’s premium service. Tweetdeck, which allows users to access different accounts and multiple custom feeds, was one of the most popular Twitter third-party apps, and was acquired by the social media company in 2011. Twitter has tried to make its premium subscription more enticing to users with added features like ad revenue sharing, formatting, and higher rankings in conversations. Now it appears the social media company, rebranded as X, is hoping the addition of XPro to this list of added features would attract more premium subscribers. On Tuesday, X also appeared to slow down the loading times of some of the platform’s competitors such as Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and Threads as well as Substack and news media sites posted to X. Links posted to X from some websites were taking about five seconds longer than usual to load on Tuesday, but the platform began reversing some of the changes restricting quick view of news sites. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg reacted to a post on the issue with a “thinking face emoji”. “Substack was created in direct response to this kind of behaviour by social media companies,” the company’s founders, Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi, said in a statement. This is not the first time X, formerly Twitter, has taken decisions to restrict access to rival websites. In December, X-owner Elon Musk announced he would ban “free promotion” of other social media services, and also suspend accounts encouraging users to move to other platforms. This announcement came as the platform’s rival Mastodon was growing in popularity, partly due to users’ discontent with changes made by the Tesla titan to Twitter since his takeover of the company. “We will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter,” Mr Musk said before the company decided to reverse its decision. Read More Mark Zuckerberg hits out at Elon Musk for wasting time over cage fight: ‘It’s time to move on’ Move fast and beat Musk: The inside story of how Meta built Threads Elon Musk says he may need surgery before proposed 'cage match' with Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg hits out at Elon Musk for wasting time over cage fight Elon Musk reveals more dramatic details of fight against Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg reveals his 4,000 calorie diet and large McDonald’s order

By Echo Wang and Anirban Sen NEW YORK Arm, the chip designer owned by SoftBank Group Corp, is

Officials say the remains of at least 189 people have been removed from a Colorado funeral home

The president of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, knew well the threat of military coups in his part of the world

Fire crews continue to battle a blaze in a cargo ship docked at the East Coast’s biggest port, days after the blaze claimed the lives of two New Jersey firefighters and injured five others

2004 NASCAR champion Kurt Busch officially has retired

Delilah Hamlin and Delilah Hamlin first sparked romance rumours in March 2023

President Joe Biden marked Memorial Day by paying tribute to "those who died so our nation might live" during his annual speech on the day that the US honors those who have served and died in its service.

Lithium ion batteries are in everything from computers to electric vehicles, to installations that bolster the electrical grid

Trent Alexander-Arnold has credited Jurgen Klopp with his position change during the second half of this season, with Liverpool currently on a run of seven straight wins.

By Sam Nussey TOKYO Japan's efforts to regain its position as a leading manufacturer of chips are "impressive",

The son of longtime autocratic Cambodian leader Hun Sen has been approved as the country’s new prime minister, part of a generational change in top positions in the Southeast Asian nation