The claim was first made by a user, who uses the handle xslowzone, on the Hacker News forum early on Tuesday. The user wrote: "Go to Twitter and click on a link going to any url on 'NYTimes.com' or 'threads.net' and you'll see about a ~5 second delay before t.co forwards you to the right address.

"Twitter won't ban domains they don't like, but will waste your time if you visit them. I've been tracking the NYT delay ever since it was added (8/4 [August 4], roughly noon Pacific time), and the delay is so consistent it's obviously deliberate."

Another Hacker News user, who uses the handle epistasis, commented: "This is what I have come to expect from every person that calls themselves a 'free speech absolutist'.

"What they actually believe is that they should be able to say whatever they want and do whatever they want, personally, without any consequences for themselves. There is no grander principle than 'my ability to do what I want and exert power over others however I want, without critique or criticism'. I really wish the term hadn't been polluted this way."

X's owner, Elon Musk, has spoken out against the New York Times and Facebook among others after he bought the company. The Washington Post reported, based on the claims on Hacker News, that posts from these companies among other are being delayed from displaying for five seconds at least.

X aka Twitter uses the t.co domain to shorten links and these are then converted to the regular https when clocked on. The Post said it had conducted tests on Tuesday and found that links from any of these targeted sites were delayed from loading for about five seconds.

It said other sites which were affected in this manner were Instagram, social media site Bluesky and the publishing platform Substack, apart from Reuters and the NYT. Also affected was Facebook's new social media site, Threads.

The Post said its analysis showed links from other sites — like its own, Fox News and social media sites Mastodon and YouTube — were not subject to this kind of delay.

The HN user epistasis later wrote that after the Post's story appeared, it looked like the delay had been reversed.

X aka Twitter has not been contacted for comment because it is known to only send a poop emoji in reply to media queries.