It is link winter on X. We do not know how, why, or when the X algorithm devalues posts with links, but it does—without telling you, and by a lot—and it makes the experience here worse. Without links, information on X is headlines without stories, commentary without context, magic without the prestige. We do not know by how much the inability to share or see source links has impacted the spread of misleading or incorrect information, but we do know that primary sources cannot be put into X posts and that replies with links are shown to 70-90% fewer people. Speech on X is free, but only if you reference other speech on X. In Laos, I once asked a rural villager how he determined the truth, given that the government restricted his media to their controlled outlets. He thought for a few minutes, looked around, became confused, and then said, “Isn’t the truth what the government says?” The truth on X is what random people commentate, polarize, interpret, and summarize from source material that is intentionally lost by a black box algorithm. There is no depth to anything on X because context with links is heavily penalized. This is bad for humanity and the opposite of free speech. It is link winter on X.