Twitter CEO Elon Musk had the company’s engineers deploy a system to boost his tweets artificially, a report claims.
The Verge, citing currently employed Twitter engineers, claimed that Musk was enraged after his Super Bowl tweet got less engagement than President Joe Biden’s. So, he flew to Twitter headquarters and summoned all its engineers. The tech mogul even allegedly threatened to fire all the remaining engineers if they didn’t solve the problem. Musk’s actions resulted in the engineers instituting a system that would boost his tweets by a factor of 1,000.
Twitter users on Monday found their feeds flooded with Musk’s tweets. Musk indulged in the situation by posting a meme depicting a woman, labeled “Elon’s tweets,” feeding milk to another woman, labeled “Twitter.”
The meme was viewed 127.8 million times by Tuesday evening. It garnered 1.2 million likes — a major increase from most of his previous tweets.
“Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh .… ‘algorithm,'” he cryptically tweeted Tuesday, hinting that he didn’t intend for the new system to stay in place.
Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh .… “algorithm”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2023
Twitter engineers deployed a “power use multiplier,” a code that automatically “greenlights” all of Musk’s tweets, resulting in them bypassing the site’s filters designed to show users the best content.
The artificial boost by a factor of 1,000 ensures that Musk’s tweets pop up at the top of everyone’s feed aside from those who have blocked or filtered him out.
Following backlash, the boost was decreased but kept in place, the engineers told the outlet.
One employee expressed disillusionment with Musk over the affair.
“He bought the company, made a point of showcasing what he believed was broken and manipulated under previous management, then turns around and manipulates the platform to force engagement on all users to hear only his voice,” a current employee told the outlet. “I think we’re past the point of believing that he actually wants what’s best for everyone here.”
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Roughly 80 engineers work at Twitter. Musk fired the majority of its employees.
