Elon Musk's X will help you prevent unwanted link spamming on your posts

The social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is working on a new anti-spam feature that will stop users from posting links in replies or comments. The feature was spotted in development by independent app researcher Nima Owji, who has a history of revealing unreleased X features.

As per a screenshot shared by the researcher (via Engadget), X will offer a checkbox called "Disable Links in Replies" which you can turn on to prevent people from pasting unwanted links while commenting on your post.

The development was confirmed by the Senior Director of Security Engineering at X Christopher Stanley, who replied to a different post on the platform. "My team built this," the official wrote.

According to its Platform manipulation and spam policy, the company warns against "sending bulk, aggressive, high-volume unsolicited replies, mentions, or Direct Messages." It further states rules against posting URLs to mislead users or compromise their safety:

• publishing or linking to malicious content intended to damage or disrupt another person’s browser (malware) or computer or to compromise a person’s privacy (phishing); and
• posting misleading or deceptive links; e.g., affiliate links and clickjacking links.

There is no word on when the feature will be out for everyone. X currently allows users to post website links in posts and replies simply by pasting the URL in the text field. The platform automatically generates a preview of the link that includes the title of the webpage.

The unreleased feature might help users safeguard their accounts against malicious actors or those who use the comments section to promote irrelevant products. On the flip side, the feature may also prevent other users from pasting links to correct the contents of a post, add to it, or expose false information. However, users can combat misinformation using the Community Notes feature.