"The level of sabotage is off the charts" - Martina Navratilova reacts to reports of Elon Musk's new controversial changes to social media site X

Martina Navratilova has expressed her disdain for Elon Musk's decision to remove all interaction counts, such as likes, replies and retweets, from the timeline on X (formerly Twitter).

Since assuming ownership of Twitter in October 2022, Musk has implemented several significant changes to the social media company, most notably rebranding the platform as "X." In a recent development, the 52-year-old introduced another change by removing the embedded headlines on shared news articles to give the site a cleaner look.

In a subscriber-only post on X, Elon Musk announced his intention to remove the visible count of replies, retweets and likes on posts shown in the timeline as well. Instead, only the "view count" will be displayed, with the interaction counts only becoming accessible once a user taps on the post. Musk explained that the change was aimed at improving readability for users.

"Those ugly URL cards with repetitive text were making my eyes bleed. So much better now! Next, we'll remove all the action buttons with their superfluous interaction counts from the main timeline. Just view count will show, unless you tap into a post. This will greatly improve readability," he posted.

Martina Navratilova, who has been a vocal critic of Musk's management of the social media platform, reacted to the news with derision.

"WTAF? The level of sabotage here is off the charts," she commented.

Martina Navratilova criticizes Elon Musk for potentially charging X (Twitter) users a fee

Martina Navratilova

Last month, Elon Musk engaged in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a livestreamed event. During the exchange, Netanyahu raised the issue of tackling the increase of large-scale bot armies that amplify hate speech.

In response, Musk shared his plan to require a "small monthly payment" from all users to access X (formerly Twitter). He stated that it was his only solution to address the issue of bots taking over the platform.

"We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system, it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.” Musk said.

Martina Navratilova expressed her frustration with the news and sarcastically criticized Musk for compromising the concept of a truly open public forum through the imposition of a fee.

"Sounds about right. So much for a public forum where all voices can be heard, right Elon?" Navratilova posted.

Martina Navratilova has been outspoken in her criticism for Elon Musk ever since he assumed control of the social media platform. She previously attributed the increase in political right-wing posts on her feed to his ownership.