'My Eyes Are Bleeding': Elon Musk Removes Bold, Italicized Font

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Bold and italicized text on X has been a feature available to some X users since April 2023, and more recently on the X app for iPhone and Android users.

If you use X, you probably noticed an uptick in both in your timeline recently.

So did Elon Musk. And he didn’t like it, so that’s changing:

Due to immediate and excessive use of bold font on 𝕏, it will be removed from view in the main timeline.

You will have to click on post details to see anything in bold. My eyes are bleeding.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2024

It was very noticable.

Same goes for italics and any other formatting. They are being abused for engagement farming

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2024

He’s the boss.

Thank you for preserving the aesthetics of X.

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 1, 2024

This writer appreciates it, too.

Lmao I had a feeling this was coming.

Maybe restrict it to a certain % of total text.

Can be useful headlines/breaking out info.

Example: pic.twitter.com/tqBLrDDeOr

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) October 1, 2024

Could be helpful.

Bold move

— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) October 1, 2024

*rimshot*

“My eyes are bleeding.”

Shouldn’t you create a feature in settings that forces all tweets to be normal fonts for those whose ‘eyes are bleeding’.

I bet you, others love bold texts. Removing it because you dislike it is subjective and sounds Pharaoh-like.

— Omo Ure 🇳🇬 (@iam__temmyyy) October 1, 2024

Another possible compromise — let users adjust their settings.

Unlike politicians, you guys admit when you make a mistake and move on…

— Big Tom Callahan🇺🇸 (@CallahanAutoCo) October 1, 2024

You may not like how Twitter policy has evolved under Elon Musk, but it has a quirky charm, and some problems get fixed rather faster than they would on Old Twitter, simply because Owner No Like and he doesn’t have to spend days negotiating with the management bureaucracy. https://t.co/hHMwjTSRgR

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) October 1, 2024

It’s a welcome change, frankly.

It’s a bug. My mobile app defaults to bold font. I need to click twice to turn it off. https://t.co/IFfmZqtnb4

— TimOnPoint (@TimOnPoint) October 1, 2024

Looks like there’s some truth to the reports of it being a bug.