Dark mode has been a popular feature on mobile devices in recent years, letting people swap to darken their screens as desired, especially at night. On Twitter X, for example, there’s a standard light mode and two dark mode options — ‘Dim’ (dark blue/grey) and ‘Lights Out’ (full-on black).
However, Elon Musk has decided that X users should only be allowed to use dark mode. On his recently renamed social network, the businessman said — in a reply to a Doge account, naturally — that “this platform will soon only have ‘dark mode.’” According to him, “it is better in every way.”
This platform will soon only have “dark mode”. It is better in every way.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2023
Of course, removing the option to switch between standard (“light”) and dark modes is quite baffling, and it’s unclear why Musk has unilaterally decided what’s best for all users. In response to Musk’s tweet, many people pointed out that in addition to pointlessly removing options for X users, forcing dark mode onto everyone is bad for accessibility. Those with visual impairments or dyslexia, for example, will likely struggle with dark mode.
It’s the latest questionable decision from a man who’s famous for them. In the past week alone, we’ve seen the police stop Musk’s Twitter signage replacement plans because he lacked the permits to do so, legal experts say he’ll likely be sued over the rebrand, seemingly random changes to the new X logo shortly after introducing it and, most damningly, the self-professed free speech maven deleting his own platform’s fact-check of yet another of his misleading tweets.
Source: Elon Musk