The social network Twitter put most of the source code that serves, among other things, to set the algorithms in the open on Friday, as announced by its engineering team, which described it as the beginning of “a new era of transparency”.
Immediately, Elon Musk, the tycoon who owns the network, retweeted it and explained that with this open code “third parties will be able to determine with reasonable accuracy, what is likely to be shown to users.”
He admitted that this will surface “a lot of embarrassing issues,” but promised that they will be resolved promptly.
The company’s blog explains that it has excluded code that could compromise users’ security and privacy or “the ability to protect our platform.”
It also does not include code that drives the platform’s advertising recommendations.
The operation of algorithms represents one of the most powerful tools of Twitter and all social networks, as they determine what will be the “feed” or flow of information that appears in each user’s account.
The algorithm, altered after Musk’s arrival
Since Musk took sole ownership of Twitter at the end of last October, it was clearly noticeable how the algorithm had changed for such obvious things as the more frequent appearance of advertising and the preeminence of Musk’s own tweets in the feed of any account, whether or not it was a follower of Musk.
In addition, many users complained that numerous accounts they followed had dropped in the feed below many others they were not interested in, and wondered why.
All these changes seem to be part of the Twitter redesign strategy that Musk has carried out and which include, for example, that from next April 15, only verified accounts on the social network, i.e. those that pay a fee, will be able to be recommended to other users.
“Twitter Blue”
Musk published last Tuesday a tweet in which he announced these new measures that involve a reorganization of the so-called “Twitter Blue”, a qualification that applies to accounts that pay a fee to achieve their verification and thus obtain a blue mark.
The South African-born entrepreneur said that the measure is the only realistic way to address the control of swarms of artificial intelligence ‘bots’ that interfere in the network through content automatically generated by computer programs.
The measure, according to the Twitter CEO, also means that only verified subscribers will be able to vote in polls on the popular social network.